Snakebite
by JoeMerl
Summary: Bridgette isn't fond of Ezekiel, or of spending the next challenge alone with him in the woods. But she's going to have to learn to live with him, because if she doesn't, he might not wind up living at all. Ezekiel/Bridgette, Harold/Eva and other fanon.
1. Biting Comments

**Snakebite**

**Main Characters:** Bridgette (narrator), Ezekiel, Harold, Eva, Izzy, Cody and Chris. I also plan to use an OC in a later chapter, but I swear, this character is about as much a Sue as Heather, isn't some new random camper and will _not_ be dating anyone in this story.

**Pairings:** Main: Ezekiel/Bridgette, Side: Harold/Eva, brief mentions or hints of others.

**Rating: **T for angst and small amounts of adult humor.

**Continuity:** AU version of TDI, with a different vote-off pattern and a different third challenge. This can be read alone without a problem or as a prequel to my story Cody/Lindsay story "Crossing the Line."

**Author's Notes: **Well, after a bit longer than I was expecting, I've got the first chapter of "Snakebite" ready to post! I'm dedicating this one to **the Kobold Necromancer,** who turned Ezekiel/Bridgette from "something vaguely hinted at on the show" to "something the most popular TDI fanfiction writer keeps pushing in his story and that everybody wants to read now but he won't actually write until everybody bugs the hell out of him to just do it in a one-shot." ;-) This story shifts from Bridgette's point of view to third-person when it needs to focus on another character...a stupid idea of mine that made this much harder to write, incidentally. Anyway, I think that's all the basic information out of the way...hope you enjoy!

* * *

"Okay, listen up, campers!" Chris said cheerfully, clapping his hands together as he looked around the room. "Everybody needs to hurry up with breakfast, because today's challenge starts in half an hour. And eat up," he added, giggling. "Today's challenge is a real _doozy!_"

"Ugh..."

I slumped down on the table, then blinked blearily to keep from passing out. As it was I was still exhausted from that stupid "Awake-a-Thon" Challenge, and now we had another one without any little break to recharge? Stupid evil Chris...I was definitely starting to hate this competition, and we were only three challenges in.

I sat up and picked at my food a bit, but I had _no_ desire to eat it (especially when I could have sworn I heard it breathing). I let out a sigh that turned into a yawn, glancing down at the rest of the Killer Bass table. Katie and Sadie were leaning against each other, sleeping upright, while Duncan simply had his head down on the table, his food totally untouched. The only people who really looked awake were Harold, who had slept soundly (and _loudly_) the night before, and Eva, which was kind of ironic since she had gotten less sleep than anyone.

I wondered what new torture Chris had devised for us today. And if it would lead to any of _us _getting eliminated.

We had already lost the first challenge, the cliff-dive/hot-tub construction fiasco, and voted off our first camper, a girl named Courtney who had refused to jump. We managed to recover during the Awake-a-Thon thanks to Eva, who had _just_ managed to outlast the Goth Gopher girl; they voted off the big guy, Owen (which was probably a good thing, since we were all a bit bothered with his whole nudism thing), so the two teams were tied now, ten campers to ten.

I did a quick mental count. Huh, there were only eight campers at the table. Well, nine, counting myself. Who was...

Oh, right. _Him._

Ezekiel, the last person in the breakfast line, walked nervously up to the table, tray in hand. Instantly several spines stiffened and several heads turned away; even as exhausted as I was, I couldn't help but scowl a little before staring back at the green mush on my plate.

After the first challenge, Ezekiel had basically tried to blame all the girls in the group for our team losing, and had not been on good terms with most of us ever since. In fact I think all of us girls voted to kick him off, but he was saved by demography: as he had noted, our team started out with six guys and only five girls, and I guess all of the guys must have followed Duncan's advice and voted off Courtney instead. But even they seemed to realize that being nice to Ezekiel was a bad idea---maybe because Eva made it a point to emphasize that fact. (Like by punching a hole through the guys' door after hearing DJ tell Ezekiel "good morning.") The only one Ezekiel seemed to get along with very well was Harold.

Who at the moment was sitting across from Eva, chatting up a storm.

Harold seemed oblivious to several things at the moment: one, that Ezekiel was shifting his feet nervously behind him, apparently wanting to squeeze into the empty spot to his right. Two, that Eva had absolutely _no_ interest in whatever it was he was talking about, but was actually glaring over his shoulder at Ezekiel as if _daring _him sit down. And three, that that space on his upper lip that he kept unconsciously wiping had a mustache markered on it. My thoughts turned to either Duncan or Geoff as the most likely culprit for that.

I actually saw Ezekiel gulp before he took the risk and slid as smoothly as he could into the empty spot beside Harold. And of course, as soon as he did Eva jumped up, slammed her palms down on the table so hard that everybody's trays jumped, and literally growled at him like a rabid dog.

"Euh!"

Ezekiel grabbed his tray, let out a cry and ran. Several people giggled---I have to admit even I found the balance of Eva's over-the-top anger and Ezekiel's terrified response a little funny. I shook my head and turned away, staring back down into my glop and smiling slightly to myself.

I was startled when I heard another gulping sound, and then a thick, nervous voice ask, "Cood I please sit here, eh?"

"Huh?!"

I looked up to see Ezekiel in front of my with his tray, giving a smile so nervous that it was actually more of a grimace as he looked down at the only empty spot left at the table---which happened to be right across from me.

I was so surprised that I took a minute to respond right; first I just went "Um...," then, remembering I was supposed to be mad at him, I turned away and said, in what I hoped was at least a slightly reproachful tone, "Sure."

I refused to look at him, but I could hear a small sigh of relief as he slid into the seat. "Thank yoo."

He began eating, and I went back to my food, keeping my head mostly turned away from him but glancing up now and then. He seemed to be having as much trouble with Chef's cooking as anyone; he kept shoveling spoonfuls into his mouth, but then grimaced for several seconds, then shuddered every time he swallowed. Finally he pushed his tray away.

"Ugh. I can't eat anymoor," he muttered. "I mean, what's wroong with that chef guy, eh? I coo'd make better food than this in my sleep."

"Hmm..." I dropped my fork on the table, making a face. "And even if this _was_ edible, I couldn't eat half of it anyway."

He blinked. "Why not?"

"I'm a vegetarian."

"Ooh." Pause. "...What does that mean?"

I gave him a look. "That I don't eat meat."

"Ooh." Another pause. "...Why?"

I sighed, irritated, and rolled my eyes away from him without answering. Then I reached out to grab the bottle of ketchup, figuring my eggs might taste better if I could cover up the taste of greenness.

Unfortunately, the bottle happened to be closer to Ezekiel's side of the table.

"Ooh, uh---l-let me get that foor yoo, eh?"

"No thanks, I can get it myself."

"Noo, really, I insist---"

"Ezekiel, please just---_agh!_"

"_Agh!_"

A red squirt blasted out of the ketchup bottle---and right onto my jacket. I jumped up, looking down at the huge red mess. I glared at Ezekiel, who turned even paler than usual, the bottle of ketchup still in his hands.

"...Oops. ...Soory, eh?"

"ER!"

I caught a brief look of half the table glaring at him as I spun on my heel and stormed away.

* * *

"And so anyway, even though the doctors said I would probably never walk again, it only took a few weeks before I could walk again. But not very well. I fell down on my face a lot at first."

"_Wooow,_" Eva droned, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "That's the most interesting story of a candy allergy I've ever heard."

"Really?" Harold's face broke into a grin. "Thanks!"

Eva blinked and began to reconsider her original plan of just punching this pest in his pencil neck as Harold went on.

"The weird thing is, I only have that reaction when I eat Gummi-_Slugs. _I eat Gummi-Worms all the time without a problem, plus Gummi-Bugs, Gummi-Aardvarks, Gummi-Spiders and---"

His monologue was abruptly cut off by a commotion at the end of the table. Bridgette had just jumped up from her seat, ketchup all over the front of her jacket. Ezekiel, holding the ketchup bottle in his hands, was trying to stutter out some kind of an apology as Bridgette turned and stormed out of the building.

Harold was startled to hear someone chuckle. "Heh. You go, Surfer Girl," Eva said, grinning as she took a bite of her food.

Harold glared at her for a moment, then turned back to Ezekiel. He was slumped down in his seat, ketchup bottle still in hand, staring after Bridgette and looking hopelessly confused.

* * *

"Okay," I said, angrily brushing my jacket with a paper towel, "I am _really_ trying to be nice to everyone here, but I am tired and grouchy and that Ezekiel guys is _really_ getting on my nerves."

_KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK._

"Just a minute!"

I sighed, turning back to the Confession Cam. "I mean, really, that Ezekiel...I don't like being angry at people, but he just...keeps finding _new_ ways to get me mad at him! First his sexist comments on the first day, then he bugs me for half the Awake-a-Thon, gets Eva ticked off at everyone by taking her MP3 Player, spills ketchup all down my front..."

_KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!_

"Just a minute!"

"Well, hurry up!" a raspy voice muttered. "_GAWSH!_"

"Er...stupid little..." Then I slapped my head, turning back to the camera, "Oh, _see?_ See how cranky I am? It's that stupid Ezekiel---he just keeps getting me all---like this! With his sexist comments and his stupid accent and the way he just follows me around, bothering me all the time---ugh, I just hate that Ezekiel so _MUCH!_"

The knocking, which had started up again in the background, suddenly stopped; I froze, realizing I had been shouting. I felt my face burn slightly. "Um---that's all," I said awkwardly to the camera, then quickly got up and opened the door.

Harold was standing right outside of the door, gaping; he seemed strangely pale. I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Excuse me," I muttered. He was standing right in my way, though he seemed too out of it to notice.

He moved aside. I walked by, looking away, feeling myself blush again. I was almost to the cabin before I heard him call after me.

"Don't you think that was a little harsh?"

I paused, half-looking back. "Well...that's why I did it in private." I meant to sound annoyed when I said this, to kind of point out that he had been eavesdropping on me, but instead the words came out sounding shaky and weak.

I turned away and headed back into the cabin. I didn't have time to worry about Ezekiel _or_ Harold right now. I had a stupid challenge to get ready for.

* * *

**A/N: **Okay...this chapter's pretty short, but it still took me forever to write. :-P In fact I threw in the Harold/Eva part pretty much just to make it longer. Frankly I'm not sure how well it turned out...I had some trouble trying to capture Bridgette's point of view, and can't decide whether or not she came out sounding too angry here. Any opinions? If so, feel free to press that nice little "Review" button, and I'll try to update again soon (though _after_ I finally get back to my _Invader Zim _story, probably...)


	2. Once Bitten, Twice Shy

"Okay, campers," Chris said, grinning with his usual upbeat sadism, "is everybody read for our next challenge?"

"Just _GET_ to it already," Eva growled, balling her hands into fists.

A lot of people grumbled in agreement. Everybody on both teams---standing in two loose groups at the edge of the forest---seemed tired, grumpy, and impatient to get this nightmare over with.

Chris chuckled. "Heh-heh…nice to see you all so eager. Okay, so here's the rundown. We were going to have this _wicked_ dodgeball tournament between the two teams, with brutal violence and heart-stopping dramatic action and everything…" His face spread into a grin, and then suddenly fell. "That is, until _somebody_ decided to try sleep-deprived archery practice during the Awake-a-Thon, and wound up popping every rubber ball on the island!"

I followed his gaze as he turned to glare at Ezekiel, who looked away, turning slightly pink. A few other people glared at him for a moment---though I personally felt kind of glad to avoid anything competitive or violent---before Chris resumed his speech.

"Anyway…for this _new_ challenge that we had to throw together at the last second, we're going to be splitting up each team into five groups of two. Each pair is going to have to go into the woods, alone, and walk through until they find the special camp set up on the other side of the island. There you'll retrieve a plaque with your names on it, then turn around and bring it back to camp. And no taking another team's plaque to keep them out of the running. That means you, Heather. Yeah, I see that mischievous little twinkle in your eyes."

Heather, a dark-haired girl on the Gopher team, scoffed, crossing her arms and looked away, cursing under her breath. But as Chris was talking I found my eyes drawn back to Ezekiel, who was standing almost alone, hands in his pockets and eyes on the ground. Harold was standing next to him, muttering something out of the corner of his mouth, but Ezekiel didn't seem to be listening. I sent Chris a dark look; that had been pretty low of him, calling him out like that in front of anyone. I couldn't help but feel another little twinge like I had felt when I ran into Harold outside the Confessional.

"Whichever team has all five of their groups back here before the other team wins. Of course, that only counts if both members make it back, so even if you don't get your ideal partner, you might want to hesitate before throwing them to a hungry bear," Chris said, then snickered behind his hand.

"Wait," Gwen, another girl on the Gopher team, said as she raised her hand. "Don't we get to at _least_ pick our own partners?"

"Ah, no," Chris said, his sadistic smile growing even wider. "_I_ get to assign them to you from this neat little clipboard." He held it up, then made a show of clearing his throat. "As I call your names, please branch off into your assigned pairs. Gwen, you're with…Noah."

Gwen and a dark-skinned guy gave each other appraising looks. They looked oddly similar, both with arms crossed and eyebrows quirked up slightly at each other.

"Justin and…Beth. Trent and…Lindsay. Cody and…Izzy---"

Cody, who had been standing with fingers crossed on both hands, eyes closed, suddenly looked up and frowned. Then fell on his face when Izzy glomped him from behind.

"Oh my gosh, great! This will be so much fun, and don't worry, I'm an expert at wilderness survival and stuff, I got, like, every badge in the Possum Scouts---"

Harold's head snapped up, his talk with Ezekiel instantly squashed. "Huh? That can't be right. The Possum Scouts is only for guys."

"Oh yeah, I know, see, to join I totally had to dress in drag and pretend to be some guy named Isaac, and believe me _that_ was hard, especially this one time when everyone went skinny-dipping and I had to---"

She continued to chatter on for the next several minutes, with Chris (and the rest of us) growing increasingly annoyed, and Cody increasingly blue as he didn't seem able to breathe with Izzy still on his back. Finally, as she stopped to take a rare breath, Chris managed to cut in, "Can we just get back to the challenge, _PLEASE?_"

"Huh?" Izzy blinked. "Oh, alright." She then calmly got off of Cody and effortless lifted him to his feet by the collar of his shirt. He grabbed the front of his shirt, panting for breath.

The last Gopher team was Heather and Leshawna, who both protested loudly for several minutes, but Chris held firm; the two finally glared at each other before turning away, arms crossed over their chests. Then it was time for our team.

"Duncan, you're with Tyler. DJ, you're with Katie. Geoff, you're with Sadie. Harold---"

"What?!"

"_NOOOO!_"

Katie and Sadie broke down sobbing into each other's arms, while their respective partners slapped their heads in unison. I actually felt sorry for them, having to be alone with the most-likely hysterical girls. Though I was also kind of relieved it wasn't me at least.

"_Ahem,_ if I MAY continue? Harold, you're with Eva."

"_Yes!_" he wheezed, pumping his fist. Eva looked less than thrilled.

At this point I realized that I was going to be in the last group, but it still caught me off-guard when Chris said, "And last but not least, the two remaining campers---Bridgette and Ezekiel."

"What?!" I said without thinking.

"Huh?! Oh…"

Ezekiel slapped himself in the face, turning red. It kind of annoyed me for a second---what, _he_ was disappointed to be with _me?_---before I realized he was probably just remembering how angry I had been with him at breakfast. Crap…there was no way this wasn't going to be awkward.

"Okay, now each pair gets a bit of equipment here in these backpacks," Chris said, as Chef appeared, dropping a huge load of gear onto the ground. "That includes food, water, and camping gear, because this challenge is probably going to take at least some of you until tomorrow to complete.

"Oh, wait-wait-wait, we have to _sleep_ together?!" Heather screamed, jabbing her thumb at Leshawna. "Are you serious?! Little Miss Gangsta over here will just strangle me the second I have my eyes closed!"

"Oh, I'm gonna strangle you _long_ before that if you don't shut yo' mouth, girl!"

"Heh-heh…this should be _fun,_" Chris snickered, before picking up a backpack and throwing it to them; it hit Heather in the chest and knocked her to the ground. "Okay, to get you all separated, we're sending you into the woods at different times. Heather, Leshawna, you two can be the first pair for the Gopher team, while Harold and Eva, you guys can go first for the Bass."

"Oh, no, let me take that," Harold said, as Eva started to pick up one of the backpacks.

She glared at him for a moment. "Whatever," she said, and threw it at him. He caught it as it hit him in the chest, then struggled to pick it up, face turning red.

"Alright, the rest of you, divide into your groups and get ready," Chris said, as Heather and Leshawna stormed into the forest down one path, while Harold continued to struggle with his load.

As the teams divided up and Katie and Sadie sobbed hysterically in each other's arms, I shot another look at Ezekiel. He was looking awkwardly away from me, his face pink again. He instantly looked away when he saw me looking, even pulling his hat down slightly to cover his eyes.

"Oh, man. This is going to be awkward," I muttered, covering my own face.

Eva scoffed. "Just push him in the river," she muttered. "Or do what I'd do, and just break his legs if he gives you any trouble."

"I'd actually rather _avoid _any kind of conflict if I can."

"Why? I'll tell you one thing, same thing I told him right after he got the other guys to kick What's-Her-Face off---next challenge we lose, I'm voting him off, whether he's the reason for losing or not. Honestly, knock him out and leave him if you have to; then we'll just have an excuse to get the others to vote for him too."

I rolled my eyes, smiling faintly. "So we're forming conspiracies now? Sabotage people to get them kicked off?"

She shrugged. "Like I said, I don't care. I'm gonna have enough problems dealing with _this_ one," she grumbled, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder to Harold, who was now holding onto one strap of his backpack, struggling with all his strength to lift it from the ground.

I chuckled as Eva went over and finally picked up the bag herself, thrust it into his arms, and marched off into the woods; Harold followed, literally dragging the bag on the ground behind him. Then I sighed, turning back to Ezekiel, who smiled faintly even as his eyes darted nervously away.

Whatever Chris said, I had a feeling this challenge wasn't going to be fun _at all._

* * *

The forest was very quiet.

I didn't like it that quiet. I kind of have a thing about the woods. I mean, I love the forest, hiking and nature walks and that sort of thing, but I always hate it when things are too quiet or creepy. I never go alone, I _have _to have somebody with me so I can enjoy it. Someone to help me drown out the silence, you know?

Unfortunately, the point was kind of lost if you and your fellow hiker were adamantly refusing to _talk_ to each other.

Ezekiel was carrying the supplies. There hadn't been any discussion about it; he'd simply picked up the backpack and I hadn't stopped him. He probably thought I wasn't strong enough to carry it or something. Which was _true,_ I'll admit, but he was hardly doing any better; he walked bent forward, his panting breath the only other sound than our footsteps to distract me from the unnerving quiet.

Finally one of us broke the silence. "Bridgette?"

I jumped, letting out a small, squeaky cry. He jumped too at my reaction.

"_Ugh!_ Damn it, Ezekiel, don't _scare_ me like that!"

"Soory!" he said quickly, stopping to hold up his hands. "I, uh---just---"

I held up my hand and sighed, moving a strand of hair out of my face. "No, I'm---sorry, we've just been quiet so long I'm getting a little jumpy. What were you saying?"

"Just---um---I'm soory foor earlier at breakfast," he said quickly. "Aboot…yoo knoo, spilling yoor food on yoo and everything."

I sighed again, waving my hand. "Just---forget about it. It was an accident."

"Yeah, but---I just-I just want too make soor that yoor not still mad, oor anything."

"No, Ezekiel, it's fine."

"…Yoo soor?"

"_Yes._"

"Because yoo just seemed really mad earlier---"

"Ezekiel!"

He winced again. "Yes?"

"It's. Fine. Alright?"

"Ookay."

We went back to walking in awkward silence for another few minutes. Finally Ezekiel broke the silence again. "Bridgette?"

"Ezekiel…" I sighed. "No offense, but I don't really feel like talking right now."

"But Bridgette…"

"_Please,_ Ezekiel."

"But, you---"

"Oh, for goodness' sake! _What?_"

"You have a cockrooch on yoor shoolder."

"What? _Agh!_ Get it off get it off get it off!"

"Er---"

Ezekiel rushed forward and began to swipe at my shoulder, but by now the bug was already on my back. I shrieked and spun around, swiping at it---Ezekiel swatted wildly---

"_Agh!_"

Still swatting at the bug, I accidentally (honest!) hit Ezekiel, just as he managed to _actually_ swipe the bug away, sending it flying to the ground. He stumbled backwards. windmilling his arms---then I suddenly heard him utter another sharp cry just as he fell onto his butt in a pile of leaves.

"_Hsssss!_"

"Agh!"

Ezekiel grabbed his leg, eyes closed in pain, just as I heard the low sputtering noise that I couldn't quite place. I took a step forward. "Ezekiel? What's the mat---oh _crap!_"

As Ezekiel held his leg, eyes closed and face contorted, I saw it: a purple snake, hissing and sputtering as it emerged from the leaves.

My eyes widened. The snake looked up, seeming to glare at us before it turned suddenly and vanished into the underbrush of the woods.

* * *

**A/N:** Okay, that's another chapter done...I hope it came out alright, it's short and feels maybe a little rushed, I'm not sure. Anyway, now I just have to get to work finishing the next chapter, which (hopefully) shouldn't take _too _long. In the meantime, hope you like this little cliffhanger, and as always, please review!

(P.S.: Just so your hopes don't get up, the Heather-Leshawna team is not of major plot significance to this story, nor will we get much information about what happens to them. I kind of wish we did, though...maybe I'll write something else in another story.)


	3. More Than He Can Chew

"Wow…this is…boring," Chris muttered, staring at the TV screens before him.

Chef snored lightly in response. Chris glared, then elbowed him hard in the ribs. Chef jolted awake, blinking.

"But I wanted a pink one, Mommy!---oh. What is it?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

"It's these dang campers," Chris said, waving his hands at the monitors. "Not one of them is doing anything interesting! Even Izzy hasn't done anything since she stopped that bear from eating Cody."

"How _did_ she learn to do all that with a can opener?" Chef wondered, scratching his head.

Chris shrugged. "Who knows. But nobody else is doing anything! I specifically paired these people up to be dramatic. Come on!" he yelled, shaking a random screen. "Somebody make out or kill somebody or _something_!"

He watched, hoping for something interesting to happen, but the campers just kept trekking through the woods boringly. He grimaced. Noah was following Gwen, slightly slump over from exhaustion; they traded the occasional complaint/sarcastic retort but were otherwise silent. Katie and Sadie were still looking morose about their separations, but were now only sniffling slightly, to their partners' relief. Harold was jabbering constantly to Eva, but to Chris' great annoyance she refused to smack him around or anything. Even Heather and Leshawna were being boring, walking together in stony silence.

Chris sighed, slumping his shoulders. Then he turned to Chef. "Well, wanna go play _Super Smash Brothers_ back at the trailer?"

"_I get to be Pikachu this time!_"

"Yeah, yeah," Chris muttered, rolling his eyes as the two walked away. Neither of them noticed the screen that showed Ezekiel falling to the ground, clutching his leg, or Bridgette's horrified reaction.

* * *

"Oh my God. Ezekiel?!"

I knelt down and crawled towards him, as he clutched his leg, breathing deeply. "Are you okay? Oh man---that thing bit you, didn't it?"

Ezekiel grimaced but didn't answer. My mind was racing---I took a deep breath. "Okay. We---we need to get you back to camp, like, right away. Hopefully Chris and Chef have some kind of anti-venom for whatever kind of snake that was---I mean, they will, they have to, they know there's wild animals around here so there's got to be medical supplies…okay, let me---let me see how bad that was. I have some first aid training, never dealt with snake bites before but I'm sure I can---ah!"

He drew back his leg just as I grabbed the cuff of his pant leg, shaking his head. "Noo!"

"No, Ezekiel, I need to see the bite---" I reached forward again, but he just pulled his leg closer to his chest. "I just need to see how bad it was---"

"Noo---the snake didn't bite me, eh!"

"Huh?" I drew my hands back.

"I'm fine." As if to demonstrate the point, Ezekiel climbed somewhat shakily to his feet---I stood up too, helping him slightly. "I just---just twisted it a little, eh. I'm fine."

"But the snake---it didn't get you?"

"Noo."

"Are you sure?"

"...Yes." But something about his tone, or the way he paused before answering made me hesitate. Before I could even voice my objection, though, he was picking the backpack off of the ground. "Come on. Let's get gooing before we fall behind, eh."

And he started off immediately. Startled, I jumped to my feet and ran after him. "Wait! Are you _sure _you're okay?"

"Soor I'm soor," he snapped, suddenly sounding annoyed. I blinked, taken aback. He hefted the backpack and began to march forward without another word.

I hesitated for a moment, then followed after him, biting my lower lip. "Well...if you're _sure..._"

* * *

"…And this one time, me and my troop were tracking this muskrat through the forest, and…"

"Harold?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you please _shut it_ before I have to turn around and knock you all the way back to camp with one punch?!"

"Okay, okay! Sorry. _Gawsh._"

For the first time since this stupid challenge had started, Harold fell silent. Eva sighed softly, allowing her tense muscles to slacken and her fists to unclench. For a moment, all was peaceful.

"…So anyway, then the muskrat…"

"_Ugh…_"

* * *

"Ezekiel? Dang it---could you please just slow down?!"

He didn't even make any sign that he heard me---if anything, I think he might have started walking _faster._ I was practically jogging to keep up with him, which was kind of hard considering how many tree branches and fallen logs I had to avoid. Not that he was having an easier time---he was stumbling, getting slapped by trees and nearly falling down constantly, but somehow managed to make his way through the forest by sheer force of will, even with the huge backpack weighing him down and an obvious limp on his injured leg.

"Ezekiel?! Could you please---agh---" I swatted a tree branch away "slow down a bit?!"

Ezekiel stopped, grabbing a tree trunk and swaying slightly on his feet, panting. "Noo" gasp "we" gasp "have to" gasp "keep gooing" gasp "oor" gasp "we'll fall" gasp "behind" gasp "eh?"

"Well, I'm sure the other teams are going to stop and rest!" I panted, coming up behind him and grabbing his shoulder to keep from falling over. "I mean, we've been marching nonstop for the last hour, we don't need to---oh my gosh!"

I stumbled backwards, eyes wide, back hitting a tree. "What the---"

The whole time we had been walking in silence, Ezekiel had been ahead of me with his back turned---now that I actually had a clear view of him, I was shocked by how pale he looked, his face almost pure white tinged with a sickly green, his hair dark with sweat that plastered it to his forehead.

"Ezekiel! What the---are you alright?!"

"Yeah, I'm---fine, eh," he said, swaying on his feet again and grabbing the tree harder to keep from falling. Now that I was closer I could see that he was trembling slightly, knees knocking together, right eye twitching.

"No you're not! You---you need to lie down, or something---" I reached toward him---I don't know what exactly I was about to do, feel his head for a fever or what---but he reached up and pushed my hand away.

"Noo---I'm fine, eh!" he said between gasps, taking his hand off the tree to take a few faltering steps forward. "I'm joost---tired, I---I---"

He swayed again, managed to steady himself for a moment, then suddenly collapsed.

"Ezekiel!"

I ran over and knelt beside him---his eyes were closed. I shook him roughly. "Ezekiel!"

He didn't answer. My mind racing, fighting back panic, I fumbled with his arm for a moment and rolled up the sleeve of his jacket, clutching his wrist---for a moment I was too panicked to find a pulse; when I finally felt it I let out a loud sigh of relief, mixed with his own faint, uneven breaths. I took his arm, and then the other, forcing them out of the backpack straps and shoving it away---I laid Ezekiel carefully out on the ground. He was out cold, unresponsive, as limp as a rag doll the whole time.

"Okay, Bridge, don't panic---remember your first aid training---okay, he's alive, he seems to be breathing..._fairly_ alright, his heart's beating---what's the next thing I---"

My eyes suddenly froze on his ankle. I stared for a moment, then quickly went and rolled up his right pant leg---which I could barely do, because of how tight it had become.

"Oh my God…"

His leg was swollen, red, and exuding some kind of horrible smell that in no weird twisted world could _ever_ be considered healthy. And right in the middle of the huge bulging leg, instantly obvious, were two perfectly round tooth marks.

"…Oh crap. Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap. Uh---"

I put my hands to my head for a minute, then began to look around wildly, trying to think what to do. "Okay, Ezekiel's been bit by a snake. Ezekiel's been bit by a snake, he's been bit for the last hour or so, and now we're too far from camp to go back because he lied to me and kept walking _after _he'd been bit, and incidentally, what the hell was _that?!_" I suddenly grabbed Ezekiel by the shoulders and shook him. "When you get a snakebite, _you don't keep walking away from camp, you idiot!_ Are you insane?!"

Ezekiel's head lolled from one shoulder to the other, and I dropped him, taking several deep breaths as I realized I was quickly becoming hysterical. "Okay…don't freak out, Bridge. You can do this. Just---oh crap, what do I do?! They never taught me how to deal with a snakebite! _What am I supposed to do?!_"

My voice echoed through the trees for a moment, and then everything was silent except for some animals chattering in the distance.

Then I heard a twig snap behind me and I almost jumped out of my skin.

"_Agh!_"

I spun around just as the bushes behind me parted and a familiar voice reached my ears.

"…and so I was just about over the fence, when suddenly one of the guards grabs me around the ankle! And I was all like, 'Hey, you can't do that!' But it turns out they actually _can_ if you're trying to break into the palace, I mean, who knew right? But then what's the _point_ of the whole---oh hey it's Zeke and Bridge. Hi Zeke and Bridge!"

"Hyuh?" Cody looked up from his map, jumping slightly; he already looked disheveled, hair a mess and his sweater torn by a long gash right down the middle. "Oh crap! Are we supposed to be running into Bass players?!"

"Sure, why not? Ooh, you know what? We can like, knock them out to keep them from completing the challenge and assure our team victory! Oh, wait, somebody already knocked out Zeke for us. That'll simple things up!"

"Is he alright?!" Cody asked, looking from Ezekiel to me.

"No! He got bit by a snake!"

"_What?!_"

"Oh, _cool!_ Izzy loves snakes! What kind was it?!"

"_I don't know!_ It was---purple or something! All I know is that it bit him and then slithered off into the forest, and now he's here and he's really hurt!"

"Really?" Izzy almost sounded surprised, as though it had never occurred to her that getting bit by a snake could possibly be a _bad _thing. She and Cody came over, kneeling down beside me.

"Oh my gosh, is that the _bite?!_" Cody asked, reeling back, looking almost as pale and green as Ezekiel did.

"Yeah! Oh God, look at how swollen it is!"

"When did this happen?!"

"About an hour ago. He just collapsed a few minutes ago, though…oh, I can't believe him!" I screamed, pressing my fists against my temples. "I saw the snake slither away from him, but he _swore_ that it didn't bite him and _insisted_ that we keep going!"

"So you were walking around?" Izzy sounded---for probably the first time since I'd met her---somewhat serious. "Oh man, that's even _worse._ You're not supposed to move around when you've got a snakebite, it makes the blood flow more and spreads the poison all throughout your body."

"So what do we do?! Don't we---should we make a, a---tourniquet or something? You know, tie off the part of his body to keep the poison from spreading?"

"Oh, that's an old myth, it doesn't really work that way. At least it's never been proven. But there is a way you're supposed to tie it up, don't worry, I learned it when I was visiting my Uncle Murray---he runs an ostrich farm in Tunisia, and anyway, my brother got bit by this, like, _humungous _scorpion so we had to tie it up before the shamans got there to heal him. But we're gonna need something to tie---ah, this'll do!"

_RIP!_

"Agh! Izzy!" Cody said, staring down at himself. "That was my sweater!"

"So?" she asked, calmly tying it around Ezekiel's ankle. "It was already ripped, and besides, you're wearing a shirt under it."

"_That's not the point! _You could have at least asked first! I'd have just taken it off!"

"That would have wasted precious seconds! Come on, we have a man down here! Okay, there we go," she said, nodding at her work; Ezekiel's leg was covered from ankle to knee in a carefully wrapped bandage. "It might not do much good at this point, but that's the best that I can do. Oh, and we should also get him upright to hinder the blood flow---here, grab you guys's backpack, we can set him against it like a kind of big pillow."

Cody scooted over and dragged the backpack over with difficulty; Izzy and I took Ezekiel and laid him against it.

"_Uggghhh,_" Ezekiel suddenly moaned. I groaned too, biting my lip. Izzy, unperturbed, patted him on the cheek.

"Ah…poor Zekey. This is just your luck, huh? No wonder you said you didn't like it outside much."

"Huh?" I shook my head, which was already turning fuzzy with confusion and suppressed panic. "When did he say that?"

"Oh, during the Awake-a-Thon Zeke and Harold and I spent some time talking, and Zeke mentioned that he doesn't usually get out of the house much, because his skin is all sensitive and everything---oh, but he _does_ like to go hunting with his dad, do you know he killed a moose once? He has its antlers up in his room, that must be _so_ cool, all I have up in _my_ room are posters and a few of my cooler restraining orders. But then this _other_ time he tried to go hunting for his TDI audition tape" she began to giggle "and _apparently---_"

"Um, Izzy?" Cody interrupted.

"Yeah-huh?"

"Now might not be the best time to go into any long stories, you know?"

"Huh? Oh, right, because of the whole 'Zeke's dying' thing. Yeah, what are we gonna do about that?"

"I don't know!" I cried. "We need to get him to a hospital or something---or at least back to camp, but I don't know how."

"Hmm…" Izzy rubbed her chin. "What we need is Chris' ATV. We can't really carry Zeke too easily, and walking would just make things worse."

"Well, Chris is probably already on his way here, right?" Cody said, brightening up. "I mean, he's probably watching us." He motioned up to a tree, where I saw a blinking camera half-hidden in the foliage. "He can be a pretty sick dude sometimes, but if he sees that Zeke is seriously hurt he has to come. Right?"

I bit my lip. "Yeah...probably..."

* * *

"_Agh!_ Above you, above you!"

"I see it, fool!"

Chris put his fingers in his mouth, chewing his nails as he watched the screen. Chef grinned, fingers dancing across the buttons, the TV blasting noise---

"Ah!" Chris pumped his fist into the air as Chef dropped the controller, grinning as he cracked his knuckles. "Yes! _Nice work,_ br'a!"

"Heh...like some punk-ass giant oversized hand thinks it's gonna beat me, huh?! I was in 'Nam you know!"

"Yeah, yeah," Chris said, rolling his eyes and ignoring the half-dozen reasons he could think of why that didn't make any sense. Then he sighed. "Well, we should probably get back to watching the campers. Some serious stuff might be going down by now."

"Yeah."

There was a long pause. Finally Chef asked, "Wanna play backgammon?"

"Sure!"

* * *

"But we can't just wait!" I exclaimed. "What if Chris _isn't _coming?!" In the back of my mind I thought that he had to, he couldn't just let us die no matter how twisted he was, but somehow the idea of just sitting here and doing nothing struck me as horrible.

"Bridge is right," Izzy said, suddenly jumping to her feet and pulling a startled Cody up by his collar. "We need to make sure Zeke gets help. So here's the plan. Cody and I'll go and run back to camp, just to make sure Chris and Chef know to come and find you guys. You stay here with Zeke and do what you can for him."

"Huh?" I blinked, looking up. "But what about the competition? You guys'd throw it for this?"

Cody scoffed. "Of course! This is a matter of life and death, dude!"

"Yeah! We're not gonna let Zekey get hurt! …Plus, you know, you guys are pretty much destined to lose at this point anyway, so it's not like this will hurt. But yeah, mostly the morality thing."

Cody rolled his eyes, but grinned. "Real touching, Izzy."

I smiled. Okay, maybe it was kind of stupid---I mean, obviously they're going to put aside the stupid contest for something important like this---but I honestly was touched, especially since I didn't know either of them very well. "Thanks guys."

"Don't mention it," Izzy said, waving her hand. "You just stay here and keep Zeke from, you know, straining himself or dying or anything. Cody and I'll rush back to camp and be back here with Chris before you know it. And now---TO WAR! HA-HA-HA!"

Without another word she grabbed Cody's wrist and pulled him after her---he let out a cry as they vanished into the bushes, heading back toward camp.

"Try to hurry!" I cried, biting my lip again.

Ezekiel moaned. I looked back at him, feeling the blood drain from my face. "Seriously," I added in a whisper.

* * *

**A/N: **Okay, not totally sure how well this chapter came out---actually this whole fic seems a little sub-par compared to how I planned it, but eh, you guys seem to be enjoying it at least. And sorry if there were any mistakes, my Internet crapped out on me halfway through the editing so it might not be as thorough as usual. The next chapter should be better, because this is where we'll start seeing some real focus on the Ezekiel/Bridgette interaction---actual conversations that don't falter into awkward silence after three sentences, that sort of thing. Not sure when I can have this _up,_ though, since I have exactly _none_ of it written, and I have another (non-TDI) story I'm juggling with this one...but I'll _try_ for sometime this week. Anyway, until then, please review!


	4. Bite the Hand That Feeds You

**Author's Notes:** Okay, I know it's been a month, but this chapter was _really_ hard to write, and part of the blame belongs to the Kobold Necromancer, since he insists on writing so freakin' fast and so freakin' well that I had no choice but to put writing on hold. (Shame on you!) But this chapter is incredibly long (at least for me), so, hope that makes up for something.

* * *

**(Bridgette and Ezekiel)**

Remember how I said being in the woods with someone you weren't talking to was about as bad as being in the woods all by yourself? Well, it turns out that feeling gets even _worse_ when the person in question is unconscious.

And dying. Can't forget about the dying. Believe me, I tried.

"Oh...where _are_ they?" I muttered, pacing up and down the clearing. I checked my watch. It was...five minutes after they had left, and five seconds after I had last checked. Okay, maybe my expectations were a little unrealistic, but I couldn't help it. I stopped in mid-pace, biting my lip. "Oh, man, what am I gonna do...?"

Ezekiel moaned again. "Stop doing that," I muttered, wringing my hands. Then I gave another look at him; he was still just laying on the ground where he had first collapsed. I bent down over the backpack and began to dig through it. "Well, I might as well make you a bed or something...it'll give me something to do, if nothing else...other than talking to myself, that is..."

I found two sleeping bags; I dug them out and laid them on the ground, then, for lack of something better to do, kind of rolled Ezekiel onto them.

And, in the process, accidentally jabbed my knee against his injured ankle.

_**"YEEEEE-OW!"**_

"Ooh!"

I drew back as Ezekiel suddenly sat up, grabbing his leg and gasping for breath. "Ow ow ow ow ow---"

"Oh crap! Sorry!"

"Ow ow---Bridgette?" His eyes were tightly closed in pain; he peeked one open, looking dazed. "...This isn't my bedroom back hoome, is it?"

"Uh...no."

"_Ugh..._"

He moaned and laid back down, still panting slightly, his face clenched in pain. After a few moments he opened his eyes again. "Where are we, exactly?"

"Um---the woods. Remember? The challenge, hiking across the island...?"

"Ooh yeah..." Then he blinked. "Ooh yeah! We better get---"

"_No!_"

I grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him back down, just as he started to rise to his feet. His eyes widened.

"Ezekiel! You got bitten by a snake, remember?! You just collapsed from being _poisoned_ a few minutes ago! Oh, and _speaking_ of which..."

I pressed down, lightly, on his swollen ankle. Not too hard, but it still had the desired effect.

"_YEEOW!_" He screamed again, sitting up to snatch his leg away from my reach, gasping. "What the heck was that fur?!"

"For lying to me and walking _away_ from camp like an idiot when you'd just gotten bitten by a snake, that's what!"

"Ooh...that."

"Yeah, that! I mean, what were you thinking, Ezekiel?! Now we're probably miles from camp and you're too sick to move! Do you have any idea how bad this is?!"

"Ugh...kinda," he repeated, laying down and closing his eyes again. He (carefully) crossed his legs, apparently trying to cover his injured ankle so that I couldn't touch it again. "But I really wasn't shoo'r it had got me anyway, eh. I thought maybe my pants might've blocked its fangs oor something. B'sides, even when they _do_ bite you they doon't always inject pooison."

"But that was still a huge risk to take!" I cried, throwing up my hands. "I mean, don't you understand that you could be---" I froze, then cleared the word "dying" out of my throat. "You're really sick here, Ezekiel. I mean, what were you _thinking?_"

"I just..." He shifted uncomfortably. "...I doon't know. I guess I thought that maybe if we just hoo'ried up, we coo'd get back too camp befur I got too sick, oor something." He sighed. "It dooesn't matter noo' anyway. We're still goonna loose."

"Lose? Lose what?"

Ezekiel waved his hand impatiently. "The stoopid contest, eh. We're goonna loose now for shoo'r. It doesn't make a difference."

"So?! Who cares about---Ezekiel, it's just a stupid contest! It's not worth risking you _life_ over!"

Ezekiel looked away, his pale face going slightly red. "I knoo that. I just...wanted too make soor we didn't loose, eh. I didn't want the whoole team to loose another challenge just because of me." He looked away awkwardly. "Especially since Eva said she'd make shoo'r I'm the next one vooted off, eh."

I blinked, remembering Eva telling me about that very threat. I shook my head. "That's still no good reason to go and---and---risk your life like that, Ezekiel! I mean, this stupid competition isn't worth that. Don't you realize how much trouble you could be in here?!"

He sighed, still not looking at me. "...Yeah. That was pretty stoopid, I guess. I just didn't want to get vooted off this early, thoo. I remember hoo' upset the other too were, eh? Like that Coortney girl when we voted her off."

"Hmm. 'Pissed off' was more the impression I got."

"Huh?!"

"Huh? Oh---" I suddenly remembered how bad Ezekiel always was with any kind of slang. "Um---you know, ticked. Uh, angry," I said, when he looked just as confused as before.

"...Ooh. Yeah, but yoo coold tell that she was really sad too, eh?" Ezekiel said, scratching the back of his head. "Prob'bly because she didn't jump off the cliff, yoo knoo? It must have been depressing, messing up on the very first day like that."

I rolled my eyes. "Sounds like something you would know about, eh?"

I really didn't mean that to be mean; it was supposed to be a joke, and I figured he would have been able to tell from my tone that I was just kidding. Instead he flinched, looking away again. "Yeah..." he muttered, then sighed, looking down and flicking morosely at a spot on his bed.

I frowned. "I didn't mean it that way." He looked up, confused. "Just---oh, never mind." I sighed. "How are you feeling?"

As if responding to my question his stomach gave a loud, sickly grumble. He moaned, rubbing the front of his jacket. "Like I have ev'ry disease knoo'n to man at once," he muttered, lying down again. "Thoo, I've _kind of _felt that way since lunch on the first day here, soo that might not have too much too do with the pooison, eh..."

I smirked slightly; Ezekiel, however, just let out another soft moan. My smile faltered.

"_Ugh..._I feel terr'ble," Ezekiel muttered. "Why do I have such bad luck, eh? I just knoo that tooday was gooing to be bad, as soon as I wooke up...and now look. I got bit by a stoopid snake, I'm probably gooing to get kicked off the shoo'...I ruined our team's chance of winning, and...hey, what the...?"

He frowned, digging through his pocket. He pulled out a small plastic medicine bottle. His eyes suddenly widened.

"Aaaggghhh! I _foogot to take my vitamin D pills this moorning!_"

I jumped at his sudden outburst. "Huh?"

"My pills! I _foorgot---to take---my stoopid---pills---AGAIN!_" he cried, craning his neck up and down so that the back of his head slammed repeatedly against the ground. "I'm soopoosed to take two of these every day fur my stoopid vitamin deficiency and I foorgot _again!_ _Ugh!_"

He groaned, then, to my utter shock, began to sob under his breath. My eyes went wide. "My mom toold me to take these every day while I'm here," Ezekiel moaned, tears starting to well up between his tightly-closed eyelids, "and I've foorgotten just aboot every day since! _Stoopid stoopid stoopid!_" he cried, banging his head again.

"Uh---" I looked around wildly; how the heck was I supposed to deal with _this _situation? "Is it really that big a deal?! Couldn't you just---take them now or something?!"

"Noo! It has to be in the moorning, with food!" Ezekiel sobbed. "_Ooh..._this smells, eh!"

"...I think you mean 'stinks.'"

"This stinks, eh!"

And he continued to sob miserably as I sat there, now scared and also thoroughly confused.

* * *

**(Back at Camp...)**

"_Aaah..._"

Chris sighed, feeling his muscles relax under the hands gently massaging his shoulders. "_Finally,_ a chance to _relax,_" he moaned, a grin spreading across his face. "It's been so damn _busy_ with all those campers around, I haven't had any time to unwind! So much to do, directing the challenges, editing the film..."

"Cookin' their dang food, tryin' to scare all those damn rats out of my trailer..."

Chef sighed too. Chris smiled, eyes closed. "This is the life, eh, my man?" he asked, raising a glass of some sort of fruity, lightly-alcoholic beverage.

"Here here!" Chef said, clinking Chris' glass with his own.

They heard a groan. "You _know, _Mr. Maclain," said Tasha the intern, leaning her head over to speak right into Chris' ear, "I _really_ don't think the studio hired us so that we could spend our spare time giving you and Mr. Hatchet _massages._"

"Yeah," her compatriot Kyle agreed, rubbing Chef's shoulders with a look of extreme distaste on his face. "Shouldn't we be, like...setting up the next challenge?"

"Or helping Jerry edit the last episode?"

"Or cleaning the bathrooms?"

"Cleaning the bathrooms?!" Tasha said in amazement, eyes shooting up as she turned to Kyle.

He nodded towards Chef's back. "Honestly, I'd almost prefer it to _this._"

"Hey! You two aren't not-paid to give us any lip!" Chris said, wagging a finger at Tasha. "You just keep those magic hands on my poor back and leave the directing work to _us,_ 'kay?"

Both interns groaned, then, grumbling, went back to massaging their bosses.

Chef turned to Chris, lifting a cucumber slice to open one eye. "You know, maybe they're right," he grunted. "Think we should go and check on the cameras again, just see that everything's going alright?"

"Nah," Chris said, waving one hand. "I'm sure everything's fine. Let's just stay here and enjoy the interns' company before they end up in the morgue like the others."

"Huh?!" Tasha cried, jumping so much her fingernails dug into Chris' skin.

"_Agh!_ Watch the back!" Chris cried, waving her claws away. "And _lower,_ please! Sheesh."

* * *

**(Back in the Clearing...)**

"Ezekiel?"

He sniffled. "Yeah?" he asked, his voice thick.

"Are you feeling...er, _better_ now?"

Another sniffle. "Yeah."

"Okay. Good!"

We both fell silent again. I was sitting a bit farther away from Ezekiel now, flicking a blade of grass absentmindedly, and looking around the clearing. _Man this feels awkward,_ I thought, glancing up at the sky through the treetops. And the quiet was getting to me again.

I nearly jumped when Ezekiel finally spoke. "Soo, what's the plan, eh?"

"Huh?"

"Well..." Ezekiel forced himself into a sitting position again; he winced, grabbing his leg and sucking air between his teeth for a moment before he continued. "Like yoo said, I obvioosly can't goo on, eh. Soo what do we do? Try to make oor way back to camp, 'oor just hoope somebody comes and finds us?"

"Oh---I forgot to tell you, didn't I?" I asked, scooting closer to him again. "While you were out, um---Izzy and what's-his-name, uh, Cody! They came by and volunteered to go back to camp to get help."

Ezekiel blinked in surprise---then a few more times, as though, I thought with a twinge of nervousness, he was having a hard time focusing on what I was saying. "Really?"

"Yeah. Of course, Chris and Chef will probably just notice what happened with all the cameras around here---"

* * *

"E4!"

"_Agh!_" Chris gripped his carefully-gelled hair in his hands, eyes going wide. "You sunk my last battleship, you jerk!"

"Heh-heh...told you not to mess with a military genius, pretty boy!"

* * *

"---but just in case Izzy and Cody will get them and bring help as soon as they can."

"Ooh." Ezekiel blinked again, and I could definitely tell he was having trouble paying attention. He leaned back against his backpack-pillow, sitting up but allowing his head to rest a bit. "That was pretty nice of them, eh."

"Yeah. But they seemed eager to help." I hesitated for just a moment. "So, do you know those two very well?"

"Huh? Oh..." He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Well, we talked a little doo'ring the sleeping challenge, eh. After Harold fell asleep there wasn't much fur me to do. They were pretty nice. Izzy even let me hide in her cabin when Eva came looking fur me."

"Ah." I had a sudden vivid memory of Eva's fit during the Awake-a-Thon. "I remember that. You know, it _really_ wasn't a good idea to take her MP3 player, you know how crazy she is about---"

"_I didn't do that, eh!_"

"Huh?!" I jumped; his voice echoed for a moment through the trees, causing several birds to fly off with loud, angry squawks.

Ezekiel sighed, rubbing a hand through his hair and under his hat. "I never took Eva's stoopid---3PM music thing! I doon't knoo why she thought I did, eh. But while she was hunting me around the camp like some soort of a---maniac, I woo'nd up finding it in the other team's cabin."

"You did?"

"Yeah. Izzy was letting me hide in there, eh, and I was under one of the bunk beds---anyway, I just kind of looked across the floo'r and saw it, eh. It was under one of the other beds, but I coold tell it was Eva's because when I looked at it I saw her name written on it."

"Really?"

He nodded vigorously. "But then I tried to return it to her, and..."

"Yeah, I remember," I said tersely, scratching the back of my head. "She didn't really give you a chance to explain?"

"Noope." He sighed heavily.

I tapped my lip thoughtfully. "So one of the Screaming Gopher's stole it?"

"I guess, eh. I'm not shoo'r who, but Izzy said the bed I found it under belongs to that girl Heather and the other one, the uh, blonde."

"Lindsay." I considered that for a moment. I didn't know much about either of them, except that Heather seemed to have some sort of a grudge with Leshawna and Lindsay seemed to be kind of a ditz. I filed that piece of information away for later. "Well, it really stinks that you got blamed for it that way, Ezekiel. I guess Eva should have given you a chance to explain what happened."

"Yeah, eh."

There was another long pause.

Finally Ezekiel said, "Bridgette?"

"Yeah, Ezekiel?"

"...I think I'm aboot to throo' up."

"Oh..."

* * *

**(Harold and Eva)**

Eva had finally figured out a way to escape Harold's endless talking: music.

It blared loudly from her earpieces, so loud that Harold could practically make out the lyrics from a foot behind her (the words "blood" and "kill" seemed to be particular motifs of Eva's taste). He looked down at the map again, frowned, then cleared his throat. "Eva?"

She either didn't hear him or ignored him, face expressionless as she continued to walk down the path.

"Eva?"

Eva's fingers clenched slightly, but Harold missed the warning sign.

"Eva?!"

"_WHAT?!_" she asked, spinning around with her hands balled into fists.

Harold shrunk back slightly, but quickly recovered, holding the map out and pointing. "I think we need to go a different way."

"What?!"

"Well" he pointed through the treetops "the sun is starting to set that way, which means we must be going northwest. We need to go a little more south or we're not going to get there right."

Eva glanced at the map, then the sky, then back again. "You sure?"

Harold nodded quickly, then pointed at the map again. "But something else I noticed---by going off-course a little, we've actually wound up kind of near this old nature walk, see? It leads us almost to where we're headed, and it'll probably be a lot quicker than going through the woods the whole way."

Eva thought for a long moment. Then she handed the map back to him. "Fine."

Harold grinned. "Awesome! Then we just need to go_...here_._"_

"Lead the way," Eva said, waving her hand and rolling her eyes. Harold, oblivious once again, beamed as he took the front position through the woods.

* * *

**(Bridgette and Ezekiel)**

"_Bleh!...ugh..._"

Ezekiel had been a few steps into the forest, puking---or from the sounds of it now, dry-retching---for the last ten minutes, while I stood in the clearing, awkwardly turned away and trying to ignore the unpleasant sounds. After a moment of quiet I turned. "You---okay over there?"

"I---think soo, eh..."

He stumbled back into the clearing and climbed shakily back into his bed, moaning. I knelt down beside him again. He looked paler and weaker than ever, but at least he was slightly less green. "I think I just throo' up every bit of food I've eaten since I came here," he muttered, wiping his sweaty brow.

I forced a laugh. "Really? What took you so long?" He gave a small sound that may have been a grunt or a snort of laughter. "Are you feeling any better, at least?"

"I guess soo. Less nauseous, anyway. I---"

He suddenly stopped as I put my hand to his forehead, moving aside the damp brown hair to feel his temperature. "Dang, you're burning up," I muttered, biting my lip. "Do you feel hot? Oh, yeah, you must, look, your face is all red..."

"Um...yeah, eh."

"Hmm." I removed my hand and scooted around him towards the backpack. "Do you want something to eat, maybe help settle your stomach? We have...Chef's leftovers from breakfast. Okay." I took the Tupperware container and tossed it casually into the forest with a scowl. "But there's also some possibly-_edible_ stuff too...hmm, too bad we don't have any chicken soup or something..."

Ezekiel suddenly gave a weak, humorless laugh. "I doon't assume there's any chocolate mousse in there, eh?"

I looked up, quirking an eyebrow. "...No. Why?"

"My mom always makes that fur me when I'm sick."

"...Does it make you feel better?"

"Yoo've never tasted my mom's cooking, eh. " He moaned suddenly. "...But honestly, I doon't think I can eat anything noo'. But do we have anything to drink? My throot feels like it's full 'a sandpaper, eh."

"Yeah, here."

I handed him one of the canteens from the pack, and he gulped it down quickly as I closed off the backpack, sighing.

"Ah..." Ezekiel wiped his mouth with his sleeve as he recapped his canteen, putting it down on the ground as he lay down again. "Thank yoo."

"No problem. Anything else you need?"

"Noo...I doon't think so. Unless you have a pillow," he muttered, squirming slightly against the backpack.

"Oh---here, let me fluff that for you."

"Can you fluff a backpack?" Ezekiel wondered, as I tried to arrange it as comfortably as possible.

"How's that?"

"Actually a little better, eh."

"And here, let me straighten out your bed a little, everything's all messed up..."

"Uh, ookay..."

I went around the edges of Ezekiel's makeshift bed, Ezekiel shifting around so I could adjust the wrinkled sleeping bags. I suddenly laughed.

"What is it?"

I shook my head. "I don't know...I just feel like I'm your nurse or something."

"Ooh." He turned slightly pink, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah, soory."

"Don't worry, I don't mind." I smirked again. "As long as you don't mind having to depend on a girl, that is."

Ezekiel suddenly stiffened, making an odd sound somewhere between a groan and a growl. I froze, thinking he was in some kind of pain again. "Ezekiel? You alright?"

It was a long moment before he answered; he was turned away from me, and in fact suddenly seemed very interested in a completely empty branch in the exact _opposite_ direction from my face. "Yoo knoo, yoo doon't have to keep making fun of me, eh," he growled. "I get the pooint by noo'."

"Huh?" I blinked, feeling my face heat up a little. "Ezekiel, I wasn't trying to make fun of you---"

"Oh, _shoo'r_ yoo weren't," he muttered bitterly, crossing his arms and still refusing to look at me. "Just like I'm shoo'r Eva wasn't _trying_ to beat me half to death yesterday either, eh? And I'm shoo'r Katie and Sadie didn't _mean_ to ignoo'r me when I said good moorning to them either. And when Duncan tripped me ootside the bathrooms because that girl he likes on the oother team walked by, that must have been an accident too, eh?!"

"Well---I---"

"And all those insoolts that Coortney girl yelled at me when they were dragging her away---I'm shoo'r all thoose just slipped oot by mistake, huh?!" Ezekiel screamed, throwing up his hands and looking close to hysterical. "Oor when I hear people saying things aboot me with my back turned, saying I'm a rat oor a' ass oor making fun of my parents, oor---oor---oor---_AGH!_"

He accidentally shifted his legs slightly, then grabbed at his injured ankle again, panting in pain. I took advantage of his momentary silence by jumping to my feet, glaring down at him with my hands balled into fists.

"Hey, don't go dumping all your problems on _me,_ Ezekiel! I'm here trying to _help_ you, you can't just go blaming _me_ that everyone else has been giving you a hard time! And you know, it's not exactly like you're Mr. Innocent in all of this either!"

"Ooh yeah?!" Ezekiel snapped, turning away from his foot to glare up at me, eyes cloudy with tears of anger and pain.

"Yeah! Maybe if you hadn't gone off on your little sexist _rant_ the first day, talking about how men are _so_ much better than women---"

"I never said that, eh!"

"_Yes you did!_"

"_Noo,_ I said men were 'stronger' than women!" Ezekiel said, pointing at me accusingly. "'Stronger' dooes not equal 'better,' eh! If people like yoo and Eva can'ot tell the difference, that's yoo'r oo'n hang-doo'n!"

I crossed my arms and gave him a withering look. "And 'smarter.' I think you threw in 'smarter' too, didn't you?"

"...Yes." He was turning slightly pink now.

"Oh, well, _soory _for not understanding, _eh,_" I snapped---even as angry as I was I knew this was a low blow, but it was almost comical, I could swear his accent was getting thicker the louder he tried to yell---"but if men have all the muscles _and_ the brains, I'm just a little confused what exactly you're leaving for the rest of us!"

Ezekiel glared at me for a moment, then flopped down on his makeshift bed, turning onto his side to face away from me without another word. I growled and spun around too, crossing my arms over my chest.

Ezekiel muttered something angrily under his breath.

"What was that?!"

"I said 'Stuff like this, eh!'"

"What?!"

"Yoo asked what I thought women coold do better than men. Stuff like this."

"Stuff like what, fighting?!"

"Noo! Stuff like---like---_this!_" He waved his hand around the clearing, keeping the rest of his body turned away from me. "What yoo'r dooing fur me! Taking care of people, stuff like that."

"Oh, how wonderful," I said, rolling my eyes. "We get to be nurses and servants, 'eh?'"

"Well, _excuse me, _but back where _I_ come from we consider the ability to be decent to people a bit moore highly than hoo' much Eva can lift above her head," he muttered, half-turning his head around to face me again. "I just meant that girls are suppoosed to be _nicer_ than guys, be all---kind and forgiving and stuff.

"At least," he added, turning away from me again and crossing his arms, "that's what I _used_ to think."

I glared at him for another moment, then turned and stared stonily into the woods.

_Damn I hope Izzy and Cody come back with help soon..._

* * *

**(Izzy and Cody)**

"AAAGGGHHH!" Cody yelled, closing his eyes as he whizzed through the air, hands clenched so tightly his fingernails were digging into the vine.

"WAH-HOOOOO!" Izzy yelled, sailing ahead of him. Then, "Oh, Cody! Watch out for that---"

_SMASH!_

"---tree."

Cody fell to the ground with a groan. Izzy let go of her vine and somersaulted through the air, landing on her feet beside him and making a pose like a gymnast.

"Land smiling and---yay! Perfect 10 for Izzy! But not for _you,_" she added, wagging her finger scoldingly as she nudged Cody with her foot. "I mean, come on, Codemeister, that's, like, the _fifth_ time you do that! I thought you said you knew how to do this!"

"_Ugh---_I said I _thought_ I could, not that I was some kind of an expert," Cody said. He sat up and rubbed his sore head, then tried to shoo away the little yellow birds flying in a circle around him. Of course he just thought they were a cartoony illusion, so he let out a cry of surprise when one bit his finger indignantly before flying away. Dang this island's wildlife was weird.

"Hmm..." Izzy mused, ignoring this strangeness and tapping her finger against her chin. "Well, we don't want _you_ to have a serious medical injury too, do we? Maybe we should just go the slow, boring way after all."

"Heh, that might be a good idea."

"Hmm."

Izzy grabbed his hand and yanked him to his feet; Cody swayed for a moment, then steadied himself as Izzy and he started to head back towards the campgrounds.

"Man, I hope Chris and Chef already know what's going on," Cody muttered as they went. "Zeke looked really bad back there, ya know?"

"Oh yeah," Izzy said, nodding. "But don't worry! We'll go and get those two and Zeke will be good as new in no---ooh, look, a squirrel! Let's chase it!"

"Um, Izzy?" Cody said, grabbing her wrist as she started to run off.

"What? Oh, right! The saving-Zeke's-life thing, _duh._" She laughed, slapping the side of her head. "_Blonde moment!_"

"Er, right."

The two went on in silence for a minute, walking quickly through the underbrush, Izzy with practiced ease, Cody a bit slower as he stumbled and tripped on various forest debris. Neither of them spoke for a while.

Finally Izzy broke the silence. "So, you think Zeke and Bridge are doin' it yet?"

"_What?!_"

Izzy looked back passively as Cody stammered. "Izzy---Zeke's just been bitten by a snake! This is a serious medical issue, I don't think sex is the first thing that's going to be on his mind!"

"_Really?_" Izzy raised an eyebrow, turning away again, chuckling. "It'd be on _my_ mind. Heck, if I thought I were gonna die right now, I'd rip off your clothes and do you right here, ha-ha."

Izzy chuckled, waving her hand. Cody froze, staring at her with wide eyes.

"...Really?" he asked, walking after her again.

Izzy rolled her eyes. "No."

"Oh."

"After all, I wouldn't want to make _Lindsay_ jealous."

Cody jumped. "What?!"

Izzy laughed and turned around---Cody landed right in front of her as she jabbed him playfully in the chest. "Oh, don't think I haven't noticed! I could _so_ tell you wanted to be paired with her on this challenge. Everybody _knows _you like her."

"What?! No they don't!"

Izzy nodded, then leaned forward, staring eye-to-eye with him. "Don't try to fool me! I saw the way you've been watching her. With your _eyes._" She pointing at him accusingly, grinning her lecherous Izzy-grin. "_You_ were staring at her _boobs!_"

"No I wasn't!" Cody cried defensively, leaning backwards and putting up his hands.

Izzy blinked. "Really?" She straightened up suddenly, quirking her head again. "Well I don't know how you could avoid it! You may not have noticed," she said, covering the side of her mouth and dropping her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "but those things are _huge._"

Cody stared at her for a moment, and then Izzy suddenly snapped around again. "But what are we doing talking about Lindsay's boobs for?! Come on, Cody, we need to FOCUS!" She suddenly grabbed her friend's wrist and began to pull him after her into the woods. "It's getting late, and if we want to help Zekey, we have to get back to camp QUICK! COME ON!"

She began to pull Cody along after her; he stumbled for a moment, then managed to steady himself.

"...Hey, Iz?"

"Yeah, Code?"

"Just out of curiosity, is there somebody back at camp that you like?"

"Oh, I don't know. ...But then again, that guy on the other team with the headband _is_ pretty nice on the eyes, what's his name? I think it's something like---"

"_Aooooooooooooh!_"

Izzy froze; Cody jumped. "What was that?" the latter asked fearfully.

"_Aooooooooooooh!_"

"Is that---Izzy, that sounds like wolves!" Cody said, the color draining from his face. "Did Chris say there were wolves in these woods?! Oh man." Cody wiped a trail of sweat from his forehead, swallowing. "Dang it, those things sound close by! What do you think we should do, Iz?"

Izzy didn't answer for a moment. Then she suddenly threw back her head and howled.

"AOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"

Cody's jaw dropped; Izzy stood there for a moment, head turned to one side. Then there came another long, wolfish howl from the distance in answer.

Izzy nodded. "Alright, then!" She spun around and, Cody's wrist still in her hand, suddenly turned to run off towards the howls.

"_Agh! Izzy!_ What are you doing?!"

"Going to find those wolves! Come on, Code-man!"

"But---Izzy, we have to help Ezekiel! Him and Bridgette, remember, they're---_AGH!_"

He stumbled as Izzy continued to pull him away from the campgrounds and deeper into the woods.

* * *

**A/N:** ...Okay, for the record, that fight between Ezekiel and Bridgette? That's not in here (holds up outline for this story). Honestly, their part of this chapter was supposed to have a _fluffy_ ending; they just started yelling on their own once I got there. Which may be OOC, and if nothing else will probably make my plans for the next chapter harder to write. And I also may have made Ezekiel's accent too thick...

Anyway, it could be a while before I can update---must deal with things in another fandom first---but until then I leave you to ponder: Will Ezekiel and Bridgette resolve their differences? Will Zeke be alright? What will happen now that Izzy's been sidetracked? And will Chris and Chef _ever_ actually look at those stupid monitors?! Find out next time, and until then, please review!


	5. This Bites

**Author's Notes:** Whoa, it's almost been a month since I updated, hasn't it? Time sure seems to be flying lately...do you guys know that it's _July?_ Seriously, there were fireworks and everything. How did all _that _happen? Anyway, new chapter finally done, please enjoy!

* * *

**(Bridgette and Ezekiel)**

I sighed, blowing a strand of hair away from my face as I leaned up to look at the sky. "Oh man, it's starting to get late," I muttered, checking my watch. It was after four o'clock. "Damn it, where are Chris and Chef?!"

I glanced over at Ezekiel; he was still laying in his makeshift bed with his back to me, stonily silent. I rubbed my arms nervously. "Ezekiel?"

He didn't answer. I sighed and crawled across the clearing towards him.

"Look, about that stupid fight...let's just forget about it, okay? I don't know about you, but I'm just---_really _freaked out right now and I let the stress and everything get to me. We both said some stupid things, but this is a serious situation and we _should_ be working together, not fighting. So, can the two of us just move past this, at least until we get back to camp and everything's okay again?"

He still didn't answer. I leaned closer. "Ezekiel?"

He answered this time---with a loud, drawn-out snore.

"EZEKIEL!"

I grabbed his shoulder and shook him roughly. He groaned and tried to cover up his head.

"Ezekiel, wake up!"

"But Mom, I doon't want to study today...I think I have a fever..."

"Ezekiel, it's me, wake up!"

"Whuh...?"

Ezekiel sat up, blinking blearily; I almost gasped when I saw how pale he was, his whole face and bangs wet with sweat.

"...Huh? Where am I again?"

I sighed. "Camp Wawanakwa! I think we just did this a few hours ago. Let me feel your head again...oh crap, you're burning up..."

"Camp Wawawhatever?" Ezekiel moaned as I withdrew my hand, grabbing the canteen from beside his bed. "Soo the stuff where I was bitten by a snake and everything _wasn't_ just a bad dream?"

"'Fraid not," I muttered, unscrewing the cap.

"_Oh._" He cocked his head. "What about the part with the giant turtle and that weird guy with the cheese?"

"Um...no, I'm pretty sure _that _part you imagined. Here, now drink this, it'll help your fever...hopefully."

He took the canteen and quickly drank what was left it in, then put it down, breathing heavily. "Is it hot in here oor is it just me?" he asked, tugging at his jacket and still sounded groggy.

"Um...not really, no. If anything it's getting cooler out, it's getting kind of late---I don't know _what's_ taking them so long to find us, I mean, even if Chris and Chef didn't know where to look Izzy and Cody should have gotten there by now..."

"Maybe they...got held up...oor something," Ezekiel mumbled, laying back down. "...Is it hot in here oor is it just me?"

"You just asked that."

"Ooh. Soory."

"Er...just a second..."

I stood and walked across the clearing, taking a few steps into the woods in the direction towards camp. I craned my neck, focusing my ears, hoping to catch some sign of somebody coming this way.

Nothing. Some bugs chittering, some birds in the distance, a duck walking by with a machine gun---wait, what?! I blinked. No, must've been imagining things...

I turned and headed back into the clearing. "Damn it...they're still not coming! I'm starting to think that maybe we---huh?!"

I stopped in my tracks, blinking. My first wild thought that was that Ezekiel had somehow managed to change into a completely different outfit in the thirty seconds since I had left---then I almost slapped myself when I realized he had just taken off his jacket, which explained why he was suddenly sitting there in a plain (and sweat-stained) white T-shirt, arms wrapped around himself.

Ezekiel seemed to feel me staring and looked up. "...What?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. I just think this is the first time I've seen you without your jacket on is all. Well, except for the cliff-dive."

"Ooh. I was hot."

"Okay. Then...why are you shivering?"

"B-because noo' I'm c-coold, eh!" He grabbed one of the sleeping bags and wrapped it around himself, sitting back against the backpack. "Yoo knoo that feeling you get when yoo'r sick, and yoo'r either too hot oor too coold no matter what you doo?"

"Ah. I'm sorry."

He shrugged, still shivering. "Not yoo'r fault, eh." He paused, cocking his head to one side thoughtfully. "Well...actually, _you_ were the one who accidentally pushed me onto the snake, soo I guess it's _kinda_---"

"Ezekiel? _Not helping._"

"Ooh, soory."

* * *

**(Harold and Eva)**

"I have to admit, this trail _does_ make the hike easier."

"I told you," Harold grinned, looking up from the map. "And if I'm reading the map right, we should be there by nightfall. The other teams probably won't managed to get their plaques 'til sometime tomorrow morning."

"So we'll beat out everyone else." Eva smirked. "Good."

"Yeah. Well, at least if we beat out all the Gophers," Harold pointed out. "Technically, our team could _still_ lose if some other Bass wind up falling behind."

Eva scoffed. "Yeah. But if _our team_ loses, you better bet that _we're_ not gonna be the reason why. I'm not giving any of those other losers an excuse to kick me off!"

Harold blinked. "Kick you off? Why would anyone want to do _that?_ You're like, one of the best players on our team and stuff!"

Eva smirked. "Obviously. But..." and here she began to look a bit sheepish "I think I might have stepped on a few toes the other day with that whole...MP3 Player thing. I'm sure a few of those idiots would just _love_ to get me booted after that."

"Like who?"

Eva began counting off on her fingers. "Well, Duncan for one; that delinquent already got uppity CIT voted off, I'm sure he could do it again. Geoff and DJ would probably vote with him, and I'm sure the Wonder Twins aren't very fond of me either; it's _hell_ sharing a cabin with them, by the way. And then there's your little best _friend_ Homeschool, I'm sure he'll try to get me off the first chance he gets."

Harold winced slightly, frowning. "Ezekiel never mentioned wanting to vote you off."

Half of Eva's unibrow shot up dangerously; Harold gulped, but then her gaze turned away from him. "Right. And you don't think he'll try the first time he gets a chance?"

"You know he's really not that bad," Harold said, scratching the back of his head nervously; he didn't dare try to answer her question directly, because after all, she _was _totally right. "He's just not very good talking to people and stuff. You know, I bet if you got to know him---"

"Harold? _Shut it!_"

Harold sighed, shoulders drooping. "I don't know how _you_ can put up with that little asshole anyway," Eva growled, sending a sharp look back at him. "Last thing I need is another member of my team turning into a scrawny, sexist jerk."

"Hey! Don't you worry about that, I'm no sexist! Believe me, I have _no_ problem with strong women."

He grinned and wriggled his eyebrows at her. Eva frowned.

"...Are you trying to flirt with me?"

"Do you _want_ me to be?"

Eva gave him a very weirded-out look for a moment, then shook her head and turned back to the path.

* * *

**(Bridgette and Ezekiel)**

"Hey, Bridgette?"

I grimaced, pounding two rocks together. "Yeah?"

"Befur I fell asleep...what were we talking aboot again?"

"Well..." _POUND POUND._ A few sparks came from the stones, but the kindling didn't light. I scraped harder. "We kind of _weren't _talking before you fell asleep. Don't you remember?"

"Uh...not really. _Ooh..._"

I glanced over my shoulder, biting my lip as Ezekiel leaned forward, moaning. He looked paler and groggier than ever; from the way he kept blinking I got the feeling he was having a hard time just staying awake. Which probably wasn't a good sign.

What were you supposed to even _do _for snakebites? Should I let him fall asleep, since that could theoretically help his fever, or try to keep him awake, like with hypothermia or a concussion? I really had no idea, which was so ironic it was almost funny: I had taken first-aid training, I had learned all the safety rules for camping in the woods, but there weren't really any poisonous snakes around where I lived so that had never really come up. _Figures,_ I thought bitterly. _That the _one _thing I had never bothered to learn would be the one thing I would actually have to _use.

Finally the dried leaves I had collected began burning; I bent down and quickly began blowing until a small fire began. "There," I said, climbing to my feet and smiling slightly. "Well, at least we have a fire, in case we---_oof!_"

I tripped and fell, right on top of the fire. Luckily it was too small to do more than burn my jacket a little, but of course the blow instantly put it out.

"...Damn it."

"Hee-hee-hee."

I looked up, startled, to see Ezekiel snicker. I glared at him.

He noticed, turning slightly pink. "Soory," he said, hiding his mouth behind his hand and biting his lip. "But that was just _funny._"

I narrowed my eyes at him for a moment...then sat up, shrugging. "Yeah, it probably was," I conceded, allowing a slight smile. I wrapped my arms around myself slightly. "Well, that's the _least _of the bad luck we've had today, isn't it?"

"Ayup."

I got up and tried to dust myself off. Ezekiel blinked a few more times, laying back down against the backpack. For a second he was so still I could have sworn he'd gone back to sleep---I was just trying to decide again whether that was a good idea when he said, "Bridgette?"

"Yeah?"

"...Were we having a fight befur I fell asleep, oor was that just another dream I had?"

I sighed, sitting cross-legged on the ground. "No, _that_ part was real."

"Ooh." Pause. "What were we fighting aboot again?"

"Oh...I don't even know," I said, shaking my head. "Something stupid."

"Ooh." Another pause. "...Soory."

I shrugged. "Eh. It really wasn't your fault. I think it was just stress. I don't know about you, but I am _seriously_ freaked out right now."

Ezekiel blinked. "Huh?" Then he suddenly twisted his arm around, staring at his elbow. "Ooh! You mean yoo'r scared. Ookay, that makes sense. I---"

He looked up and noticed my staring at him. He blinked again. "...What?" he asked, still holding his arm out at a weird angle.

"...What are you doing?"

"Huh? Ooh, I...uh..."

He untwisted his arm to pull awkwardly at the collar of his shirt; for the first time I noticed what seemed to be a collection of weird marks all over his skin.

"What's all that on your arms?!"

"Ooh, that? That's, uh...noothing, eh! That's just---_agh!_"

I grabbed one of his hands and pulled it towards me (nearly pulling Ezekiel on top of me in the process). "What is this?" I bent down, squinting as I tried to decipher the messy writing. Then I started laughing. "Oh my gosh---Ezekiel!"

Ezekiel started to blush. "What? It's nothing, eh!"

"Nothing! It looks like you've tried to copy a whole slang dictionary onto your arms! '_Chill---to calm oneself. What's up?---what's new, how are you? Dawg---friend, friendly title._'" I giggled; he had originally written '_dog,_' then crossed it out to add the proper 'slang' spelling.

Ezekiel snatched back his arm, his whole face turning pink as he turned away. "...It was Haroold's idea," he muttered. "He said as long as I woore long sleeves noobody would notice. Apparently it's also a great way to cheat on math tests, thoo' I doubt my mom would ever fall fur it..."

"Oh, look, you even have names!" I giggled, leaning forward to examine his arm again. "_'Duncan---green hair. Geoff---pink shirt._'"

"Well, it seemed like a lot of names to memorize, eh!"

"No, that's actually a good idea," I laughed. "I should try that too, maybe I'd finally be able to remember which one's Katie and which one's Sadie."

"Oh, that's the first thing I thought to write down!" Ezekiel said, holding up his hand proudly. Then he looked at it, frowning. "Too bad I have such sweaty palms..."

I giggled. "What are these little faces next to them, though?" I asked, pointing at the ridiculous-looking smiley face next to Geoff's name and the angry-looking snarl next to Duncan's.

"Ooh...that's my approx'amation on whether oor not that person wants to kill me," Ezekiel muttered, turning away and turning from pink to red.

"...Oh." I drew away, biting my lip awkwardly. "...Am I written down there somewhere?"

"Huh?!" He looked startled. "Ooh...noo. I didn't bother with you, oor Haroold oor Eva. I could already remember you withoot it."

"Oh." I felt my own face heat up. "Okay."

Ezekiel looked away again, now trying to cover up his arms. I looked away too, wondering if I really was there or not...and if he was hiding something he didn't want me to see.

* * *

**(Chris and Chef)**

"_Ahhh..._this is the life, eh, Chef my man?"

"You said it, Pretty Boy."

The two sighed again and slid down deeper into the hot tub. Meanwhile, Kyle and Tasha the interns stood beside the pool, grinding their teeth, glaring...and fanning them with giant leaves.

"...So, Tash, how many years did _you_ spend at film school?"

"Four."

"Hmm. McGill University, right?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Yeah. I was _summa cum laude_ at U of Victoria."

"Ah."

...

"So, once we're done here, wanna take part in some kinda suicide pact?"

"I think those sharks are still hanging out around under the cliff."

"Uh-uh," Chris said, shaking his head as he opened one eye. "If you two are gonna kill yourselves, it'll be testing a _new_ challenge. Oh! I have this _great_ idea for a kayaking trip to Boney Island in a few weeks if you're interested! Do either of you like beavers, by any chance...?"

* * *

**(Bridgette and Ezekiel)**

"_Ugh..._"

"Jeez, you're really not feeling very well, are you, Ezekiel?"

"Noo..." He rubbed his stomach with one hand and his eye with the other. "I think I'd throo' up again if I had anything left in me...and I feel soo..."

"Tired?"

"I was goona say 'drunk.'"

I raised an eyebrow. "Drunk?"

"Yeah...like I can barely think straight..." He blinked several times in a row; his eyes looked cloudy. "I can barely even see..."

I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. _Oh man, there's no way this is good,_ I thought. I looked over my shoulder again, half-expecting to suddenly see Chef and Chris coming through the forest. But of course there was nothing. What was taking them so long?!

Ezekiel moaned again, holding his head. I snapped around. "Okay, Ezekiel? Ezekiel, try to focus, okay?"

"Oo-ookay...ookay, I think I'm ookay noo'..."

Ezekiel forced himself into more of a sitting position, blinking. I sighed and sat back down, glancing at my watch.

"Oh, I can't believe it's taking so long...Izzy and Cody shouldn't have even _had_ to get back to camp, and even if they did they should have gotten there by now. I don't get it."

"Maybe they got lost?"

"I hope not..." I sighed, rubbing my forehead. "You know what, we just need something to distract us from worrying. Or you from drifting off into a coma..."

"Huh?"

"Nothing," I said quickly. I pulled my legs up to my chest. "So, um...tell me about yourself, Ezekiel."

"Huh?" He blinked again. "What aboot me?"

"I don't know...um...you're from the country, right? What's that like?"

"Ooh...it's ookay, I guess," he said, giving a small shrug. "I think it's better than living in a city, anyway."

"Have you ever lived in a city before?"

"Well, noo...but like when my parents had to bring me to Torontoo, you knoo, fur the callback thing befur the shoo? I couldn't even sleep...why do soo many people drive at night anyway?" he wondered, scratching under his toque. "Where do you even need to _be_ at midnight?"

I laughed. "Yeah, I know what you mean. My dad lives in Vancouver. It's a lot smaller, but I _still_ go nuts if I can't get to the beach practically every day."

"'Go nuts?'"

"Uh, crazy. What, that's not on your arm yet?"

"I'll hafta remember to add it later, eh." He shifted slightly. "Soo, you like the beach?"

"Well, that surfboard isn't just for show. It's great, I live, like, a fifteen-minute bike ride from the ocean...me and my friends go practically every day in the summer. Probably my biggest regret about this whole show is how crummy the beach is." I cocked my head. "Well...after Chris' challenges, of course. The Chef's horrible food that I can't even eat. And the way Katie and Sadie stay up _all night_ giggling to each other, and Eva just keeps leaving her dumbbells _all over_ the cabin, so of course, klutzy as I am I---"

"Uh, Bridgette?"

"What? Oh...sorry, lost my train of thought there, didn't I? So, anyway...what about you? What kind of stuff do you do back home?"

"Me? Ooh, I doon't knoo..."

"Well, you have to do something. You grew up on a farm, right? That's gotta be kind of interesting. All the...I don't know, nature and animals and stuff. Sounds nice."

Ezekiel blinked; for a minute he actually looked more surprised than he did near-dead. "Uh...I doon't knoo about that, eh," he muttered, rubbing his eyes groggily. "I mean, there really isn't much to do. Moostly I just do schoolwork all day and choores around the farm...it's kind of booring, really."

"Well, what do you do for fun?"

Ezekiel frowned, fingering the stubble on his chin. "...Well, I read a lot. And sometimes I watch TV, if my parents aren't hoome." He blushed slightly. "They doon't really like that. My dad says it makes your brain melt oor something. Oh, and I cook."

I raised an eyebrow. "You cook?"

He nodded. "Uh-huh. I have to fur school, but sometimes I just do it fur fun, eh."

A few sarcastic lines about "woman's work" passed through my mind, but I quashed them down; no need to risk another fight. "That's pretty interesting. Maybe when we get back to camp we can get Eva to knock out Chef or something, and _you_ can make dinner tonight."

"Hmm...Izzy'd probably be better," Ezekiel said, frowning seriously. "Chef would probably hear Eva coming..."

I laughed. "Oh, like Izzy can keep quiet?"

"She can if she wants to, eh. At least, she _must_ if thoose stories about breaking into Foort Knox are true."

I grinned. "You probably shouldn't take what she says _too_ seriously, Ezekiel. Anyway, I still think it sounds nice where you live. I'd like to see it."

"What?! Ooh..." Ezekiel turned away, turning pink. "You probably woo'dn't like it...I mean there's noo oocean around oor anything..."

"No, I guess there wouldn't be. But there'd probably be some woods or a nature walk or something, right?"

"Well, there's a little foorest by our land," Ezekiel said brightly. "If that's what you mean. Me and my dad goo hunting there sometimes."

I made a small, barely audible noise. Ezekiel blinked.

"...What?"

"Nothing."

"...I said something stoopid again, didn't I?"

"What? No, no! It's just...I'm not a big fan of hunting, is all."

"Ooh." There was a long pause. "...Why not, eh?"

"Well, I'm just not too fond of the idea of going in the woods to kill some poor, innocent animal for no reason."

"We had a reason," he said sincerely. "We wanted to eat it."

"Well, I mean, no offense, Ezekiel, but it's not exactly---humane, you know? I mean, _you_ probably wouldn't like it if some animal just came up and tried to kill you for no reason, would you?"

Ezekiel blinked. He stared at me for a moment, then down at his injured leg, then back up at me, looking uncharacteristically incredulous.

I blushed. "...Okay, I admit, given the circumstances, that comeback sounded _really_ stupid." I brushed a stray strand of hair out of my face as Ezekiel grinned sheepishly. "_Anyway,_ isn't there anything else you do back at home? Other than chores and TV and stuff around the house? Like...I don't know. What do you and your friends do?"

"Huh? Ooh...well" He pulled awkwardly on his collar again, "I doon't really have any friends back at hoome, to be honest..."

I frowned. "Really?"

"Yeah...there aren't a lot of teenagers in my too'n...actually there are hardly even any people my parents' age, everybody's moostly really oold already." He suddenly let out a small groan, holding his side, then continued, grimacing. "My dad always says moost of the younger people mooved away years ago, befur he and my mom even mooved there."

"I'm sorry."

He nodded; he began to blink again, his eyes bleary. "Yeah. Part of the reason I wanted to come on the shoo' was because I thought it would help me meet some new friends." He suddenly laughed, but it became a harsh, sarcastic snicker as he leaned back against the backpack. "Well, _that_ worked oot real well, didn't it?"

My mouth fell open. For a moment I literally had _no_ idea what to say, how to respond to the sudden bitterness of his voice. "Well---I mean, yeah, things have been a little rocky for you...but I mean, you've made _some_ friends. Like---Harold!"

"Oh!" Instantly---even weirdly, I thought---Ezekiel seemed to brighten up, grinning. "That's true. Harold's been real nice to me."

"Yeah, see?"

"Yeah. He's really hot."

"Yeah! See, at least there's---wait, _what_ did you just say?!"

"Harold. He's really hot." I stared at him, jaw dropping. He stared back, confused, then suddenly frowned. "Wait...no, that's not right. Warm? Tepid? Coold?" He began to seach his arms again. "Dang it, I wroote it doo'n here somewhere..."

My brain remained frozen for another few seconds while he searched, and even when it started again it seemed to be kind of clunky. "Wait---do you mean _cool?_ You think Harold is _cool?_"

Ezekiel---who had been in the process of peering into the pant leg of his uninjured foot---suddenly snapped his fingers, grinning. "Ah, that's it! _Cool,_ Harold is _cool!_ That's it, right?"

I covered my mouth, trying (and failing) very hard to keep from laughing. "Well...that's not exactly the term _I_ would use to describe him, but yeah, that makes a little more sense," I said, biting my lip very hard. Ezekiel, thankfully, didn't seem to notice; he just smiled to himself and laid down again.

"Harold's nice," Ezekiel repeated dreamily; he suddenly sounded sleepy again, and once again I wondered if that was a good thing or not. "But he's alsoo really weird. Have you ever nooticed that?"

"Uh, yeah, the thought did cross my mind once or twice. But like you said, he seems...'cool.' He gets along with everyone, he's been nice to you...heck, he even acts nice around _Eva_ most of the time."

Ezekiel suddenly giggled.

I raised an eyebrow. "What?"

He giggled again. "Nothing."

I stared at him. "No, what?"

"...I knoo why Haroold is soo nice to Eva, eh."

"Huh? Why?"

"He _likes_ her."

I think my eyebrows probably disconnected from my head for a moment and shot ten feet into the air. "_What?!_"

Ezekiel nodded, still snickering. "Yup! I _toold_ you he was weird, eh! He's acting all nice to Eva because he wants to date her. Isn't that funny?!"

"Well, it _is_ kind of a surprise..." I admitted, "but I guess it kind of makes sense, now that you mention it." I tapped my chin thoughtfully. "That _does _explain why he's always being so nice to her, and bothering her even more than everybody else. And it _would _take somebody as..._quirky_ as him to like somebody like Eva. Still, I really didn't have any sort of idea."

"I knoo!" Ezekiel said. "It's a big secret! Haroold made me promise not to tell anyone, and I---"

His giggling instantly stopped. His face froze, then suddenly twisted into a look of horror.

"...Oops."

I laughed. I couldn't help it; the sudden look of realization on his face was so funny. Ezekiel, however, didn't seem to think so---he jumped at the sound of my voice, looking even paler and more terrified.

"Ooh noo noo noo noo noo noo _noo!_ I can't believe I just said that, eh! _Agh!_" He suddenly sat up, let out a small cry as his leg moved, and grabbed my arm, startling me. "_Please _doon't tell Haroold I toold you that! If he found out, he'd---he'd---he'd be soo angry! He'd tear my arms oof and beat me with them! He can doo that, eh! He knows that karate stuff and everything! He---"

"Okay, Ezekiel!" I put my hands up, forcing his hand from my wrist. "Calm down! I won't tell Harold, okay?! I promise."

He sighed, slowly laying back down. "Thank you," he whispered; I was struck again by the sudden shift in his mood, and how pale and sweaty he looked as he wiped his brow. "Ooh...I was wooried there for a minute. I doon't knoo what I'd do if Haroold hated me too."

The clearing was almost silent for a minute; each bug's creep sounded unnaturally loud. "Ezekiel," I said softly, crawling towards him. "Nobody here h---"

"_Aoooooooooo!_"

"_Agh!_"

We both jumped; Ezekiel grabbed my arm again, eyes wide. "What was that?!"

"I don't know...a wolf?"

"A wolf?! There are _wolves_ aroond here?!"

"I don't know...it sounded far-away. But it sounded like wolves, I think. Or maybe..."

"Maybe what?"

"Just a sec..."

I got up and went to the edge of the clearing, spending the next several minutes searching around for whatever we had heard. I didn't find any signs of anything, either animal or human. Which both relieved and disappointed me; I'd been hoping for the latter....

Damn it, I thought again, where were Izzy and Cody?! Where were Chris and Chef?! We had Ezekiel laying here, getting sicker every second, we have wolves somewhere in the forest, why didn't we have any _help_ here?!

I sighed, returning to the clearing. "I didn't find anything," I muttered. "No wolves, but also no---Ezekiel?!"

He gave a loud groan in response; he was suddenly doubled over again, clutching his stomach. I rushed over to him.

"Ezekiel?! Ezekiel, are you okay?!"

"_Ugh..._I think I'm goona be sick again," he moaned. "_Agh!_" He suddenly clutched at his T-shirt, hissing through his teeth. "It's starting to---to really _hurt_ noo', eh?"

"Uh---okay, okay. Here---lay back down---"

I eased him down into his bed; his hand fell to his side as he gasped for breath, his eyes more hazy than ever.

"There. How are you feeling?"

"...Huh?"

"Ezekiel! Ezekiel!" I was starting to panic now; I leaned down close to him, waving my hand. "Ezekiel! Focus on me, okay? Can you focus?"

"Uh...huh."

"Okay. How are you feeling?"

"A...little better."

"Okay. Okay, good. Now, just try to---to hold on there, okay?"

"...Can we go back to camp noo?" he asked, blinking as he gazed up at me. "I doon't feel soo good, eh?"

"What? No...Ezekiel, you can't walk, remember? And there's no way I could carry or drag you...we just gotta wait for Chris and Chef, okay? Chris and Chef are gonna be here any minute, alright? Izzy and Cody should be there by now, so that means they'll all be back here soon. Alright?"

From the look on his face, I didn't think Ezekiel understood a single word I said; his eyes looked distant, hazy, and for a moment his mouth moved as if he were trying to form words but couldn't quite remember how. "...Who?"

Okay, now I was starting to really freak out. "Cody and Izzy! From the other team? They went back to go get help, don't you remember?"

"Coody and...Izzy?"

"Yeah?"

"Coody and...Iz-zy..."

He began to mouth wordlessly for another moment; and then, to my total surprise, he started laughing.

"Ezekiel?! Ezekiel, what is it?!"

"_Izzzzzy._" A slow grin spread across his face. "_Izzzzzzzzzzzzeeeeeeee_...heh-heh-heh, _Izzzzzy, Izzzzzy-Izzzzzy-Izzzzzy,_ ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! That name is _fun_ to say, innit?! Listen to how it sounds! _Izzzzzy-Izzzzzy-Izzzzzy_, ha-ha-ha!"

Ezekiel just grinned back at my shocked expression. "I think it's because it has a 'z' in it," he mused, tilting his head back. "Ooh! And you knoo' what else has a 'z' in it, Bridgette? My name! _Ezzzzzzekiel. Ezzzzz-EEK-ee-el._" He giggled. "All those times Duncan made fun of me I just thought he was being a jackass, but he's right, it IS funny! _Ez-EEK-ee-el, Ez-EEK-ee-el,_ heh-heh-heh! And yoo knoo---" He started to sit up; I held up my hands to stop him, but he just rolled his head back, oblivious, "I actually have _two_ 'z's' in my name, did you knoo that?"

"Um---you do?"

"Yeah, I got one in my middle name too! Hezekiah. _Hezzz-ek-AI-ah. Ezzz-EEK-ee-el Hezzz-ek-AI-ah._" He began to laugh manically. "My name is _funny!_" Then he suddenly paused. "Hey, is there a 'z' in yoo'r name, Bridgette?"

"Uh, no...I-I don't think most people don't spell 'Bridgette' with a 'z.'"

"Ooh. I'm soory." Then he started to crack up again. "But if you want---heh-heh---you can just booroo one of mine!"

He laid back down and started laughing again. I gulped, climbing shakily to my feet. "Uh---thanks, that's---really nice of you," I muttered, backing away. "I'm just---gonna go look for some branches, maybe give that fire another try, okay?"

"Ookay," Ezekiel called between giggles. "Heh-heh, _Izzz-ee Ezzz-EEK-ee-el Hezzz-ek-AI-ah..._zany, busy, crazy, ezzy, heh-heh---"

I lost of the rest of his little song as I backed away into the forest, and then, when I was far enough away that he wouldn't hear me, took off to a near-run. I stopped a few yards from the clearing, collapsing against a tree.

"Okay...okay, just stop and think for a minute, Bridge. It's not so bad. You're just---lost in the woods. With a friend who's sick and _dying_ and oh yeah, now going _completely insane! _And you have no idea where help is or if Chris is just going to let us both _die_ out here for his stupid ratings! Damn it, Chris, aren't there supposed to be _cameras_ around here?! Don't you freakin' _see_ us?! Oh..."

I let out a dry sob and let myself slide down the tree trunk, kneeling on the ground with my knees against my chest. "Okay...okay, I just need to _calm down,_" I whispered, taking a deep breath. "Things'll be okay. I just have to---to figure out what to do. Chris doesn't seem to be coming and Izzy and Cody could be lost or something, so I just have to...have to..."

I bit my lip; only one idea occurred to me, and that wasn't a very good one. I turned, looking back through the trees to where the clearing was, then the other way, back towards where camp was.

I could go. Maybe...I wouldn't be abandoning Ezekiel, I reminded myself, I would be trying to _help _him. And there was no way I could carry or drag him back, and he was going to die if I didn't do _something..._and heck, with how he was now maybe it wouldn't even matter. It would take me at least an hour to get there, but if Ezekiel just thought of the word "razzmatazz" I could probably be back before he even realized I was gone. But what if _I_ got lost or something? Well, he wouldn't be in any more trouble than if I did nothing, I thought, but...

"Bridgette?! _Bridgette?!_"

I jumped up. "Ezekiel?!"

I rushed back into the clearing---Ezekiel was trying to climb to his feet, but he was so shaky and disoriented that he fell right back down onto his bed.

"Bridgette?!" He didn't seem to see me until I was practically standing beside him. "Whuh---where were you?!"

"I---I was just in the woods, remember, I told you I was---"

I let out a cry of surprise as Ezekiel suddenly reached forward and grabbed me around the knees---I teetered and almost fell; he was shaking so hard my knees were knocking together, moaning pitiably.

"Oh...I-I thought you'd left me oor something...I just---and then you weren't there...oh..."

He let out another moan, clutching my legs even tighter as his face contorted in pain; he looked like a scared, overgrown five-year-old. "Doon't leave," he whimpered. "Please..."

I swollowed a lump in my throat as I bent down. "Don't worry, Ezekiel," I whispered. "I'm not going anywhere, okay?"

Ezekiel sighed, still trembling against me. I closed my eyes, feeling close to tears.

_Izzy, Cody, wherever you are, I hope you're coming back soon._

* * *

**(Cody and Izzy)**

"Heh-heh...nice doggies," Cody said, holding up his trembling hands. "Nice, _nice _giant bloodthirsty doggy-wolves..."

The wolves growled softly, taking another step closer. Cody gulped, trying vainly to take a step back through the tree at his back, while Izzy merely grinned crazily beside him.

* * *

**A/N:** Well...writing that was freaking _hell. _This is officially the longest single chapter I've ever written in a fic, and as it is it was supposed to be longer, but I cut it, in part just so I could finally get it out. I hope it turned out alright, particularly with Ezekiel's mood throughout the chapter (constantly switching between happy and sad, which, if I did it right, is supposed to help give the impression that the poison is affecting his mind). I also hope it didn't come off boring or repetitive, but it's hard to come up with interesting things to do or say when most of the chapter is just two people sitting on their butts and talking. :-/

Anyway, this is five chapters down, three more planned to go...and hopefully the next one soon (I'm kind of looking forward to it), though I have some other stories to update first. Until then I hope you've enjoyed, and please review! (...Seriously, I deserve a reward for this chapter, it was _horrible_ to write.)


	6. Bite His Head Off

**Author's Notes:** Hey! It's been (slightly) less than a month and I'm already updating! That's an improvement. And you're in luck---I'm putting my other stories on hold for now, so I can hurry up and finish this one and be a little less frazzled by the time I have to go back to school. Hopefully the next update will be come in the next week or so, and the last chapter shortly thereafter. Anyway, I've been kind of looking forward to this chapter, though it turned out being rather hard to write.

And also, I think this merits a **WARNING:** This chapter is rated M for _extremely_ bad language, including things that may very well offend you. I would also like to point out that views expressed in this story are not necessarily the opinion of the author, website, or canonical owners of the _Total Drama_ series. And that includes views expressed by OCs, because not all of them are Mary Sues who blindly imitate their creators.

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

* * *

**(Harold and Eva)**

"We're here!"

"_Finally!_"

The two emerged from the woods into a large clearing, complete with a roaring campfire that helped ward away the gray darkness settling over the island. Just beyond the fire was a large tiki statue, covered with plaques bearing the contestants' names.

Harold rushed over and searched for a moment. "Let's see, _Duncan and Tyler…Geoff and Sadie…_here we are! _Harold and Eva._"

"They should have put my name first," Eva muttered sullenly, crossing her arms.

Harold removed the plaque from the statue, grinning. "And we got here before anybody else, too! We're _awesome!_"

Despite herself, Eva gave a grim smile. "True. But we haven't won this contest yet." She grabbed his wrist and began pulling him away. "Come on. We still need to get back to camp."

Harold blinked. "Huh? But it's almost nightfall! Shouldn't we, I don't know**—**stop and camp out for the night, or something?"

"Hey! I _said _we were _not_ going to lose this challenge, and I _meant_ that we are not going to lose this challenge! Just because things are going well for us now doesn't mean something on this island won't screw us over by morning. We have at _least_ a few more hours we can walk to make sure that we're the first ones _back_ to camp too."

"But**—**"

He was cut off as Eva pulled harder on his arm, forcing him to stumble after her. _Oh well,_ he thought, shoving the plaque one-handed into the backpack. _I always _did_ say I like forceful women…_

* * *

**(Bridgette and Ezekiel)**

"_Oh…ugh…_"

Ezekiel moaned again, tossing fitfully**—**he was either asleep or just so delirious he seemed asleep, I couldn't even tell anymore. As he moved his hat slipped off**—**I had been using it as a rag, wetted and pressed against his forehead, since he didn't seem comfortable with it on and I had nothing else to use anyway.

I picked up the toque and checked his temperature for the twentieth time that hour, and once again his forehead was burning up. "Oh man," I muttered, sprinkling out more water from the canteen onto his hat.

"_UGH!_" Ezekiel's hand suddenly clenched against his stomach; his whole body seemed to tense in pain for a moment before finally relaxing. "Why does this hoort soo much…?"

"Ezekiel? Ezekiel, can you hear me?!"

Ezekiel didn't answer, just tossed his head again; I could see his eyeballs working rapidly underneath their lids. "_Ugh…_I shoo'da listened…"

I placed the hat back on his forehead. "Ezekiel?! Ezekiel, do you hear me?!"

Ezekiel was quiet for a long moment, and then again, in a faraway voice, "I shoo'da…listened, Dad. You were right…gooin' on that shoo' was a stoopid idea…"

He gave another load groan, his body tensing in pain. I pressed my hand to my forehead, trying to stay calm…

…and then suddenly threw back my head and screamed at the quickly-darkening sky.

"_**CHRIS YOU ASSHOLE, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?!**_"

* * *

**(Chris and Chef)**

"Mm-_mmm!_" Chris said, sucking on his finger as the interns collected the dishes, sending him death-glares. "You really outdid yourself this time, Chef! That was the best surf and turf dinner I've _ever_ had!"

"Do I even want to ask what _we_ get for dinner?" Jerry, the third of the surviving interns, asked as he scooped Chris' leftovers into the trash.

"Why would you? The answer's just gonna be horribly depressing," Kyle muttered.

"Eh, you guys can have the leftovers from breakfast out of the trash," Chris said offhandedly, as he and Chef Hatchet walked out of the mess hall. "And hurry up with those dishes! We need you guys to help clean our trailers before bed."

The three groaned. "I'm starting to think all those other interns died from suicide," Jerry muttered.

"Really? Wanna head to the cliff we us, Kyle and I have kind of a pact going…"

Jerry frowned. "Hmm...maybe. But I should probably check with my wife first, see what my life insurance says..."

Outside, Chris stretched and yawned, chewing sleepily. "Well, today was a great day, wasn't it, Chef my man?"

"You said it," he said, slapping Chris on the back so hard the shorter man almost fell. "Ooh, sorry. Nice to finally get rid of those campers."

"Yeah! Ignoring 'em's almost as fun as torturing 'em! Not quite, though."

"Hmm." Chef scratched his back thoughtfully. "Think we should check on them, though, just real quick before we turn in?"

"…I guess," Chris said reluctantly, making a face. "But hey, while I do that, go check things in at the main trailer, make sure nothing went wrong while we were away."

"Can do."

As Chef headed off, Chris made his way to the trailer where all the camera equipment was kept. He grabbed a quick cup of coffee (the last cup, which Kyle had specifically asked everyone to save for him), sipping it thoughtfully as he made his way over to the screens. "Now let's see what our little kiddies have been up to today…"

Chris' eyes swept the monitor; after a moment his eyebrows arched up and his mouth curled into an evil little grin. Oh-ho, it seemed he and Chef had missed out on quite a lot of fun after all! Tyler, somehow, was up in a trap in a tree; Duncan was on the ground, laughing uproariously while the jock yelled down at him, swinging his fist. The Katie-DJ and Sadie-Geoff teams had somehow met up, as if by sheer magnetism; Chris caught a glimpse of the two girls hugging fiercely at their campsite, while the two boys continued to roll their eyes in annoyance. Noah and Gwen looked like they were turning in**—**in separate sleeping bags too, boring**—**and Harold and Eva were still hiking, even though it was now dark. Chris laughed out loud when he saw Heather and Leshawna, though; they were sitting with their backs to each other, each with disheveled hair and clothing ripped. Either they'd been attacked by something, attacked each other or engaged in a lot of very rough lesbian fun, any of which, Chris thought sadistically, would make for great ratings and great fun to rewatch with Chef the next day.

Then his eyes fell on the last monitor, with Ezekiel and Bridgette. He frowned; hmm, that was…weird. Ezekiel already seemed to be asleep, though he was far from still, tossing and turning restlessly…Bridgette was still up, though, kneeling over him…hmm, teenaged hormones getting to her in the night? Great drama but it hardly seemed likely, especially with that look on her face…and what the heck was up with Ezekiel's leg, it looked huge...

Chris tapped his chin, frowning, while a pale-faced Chef poked his head into the trailer. "Um…Chris? Y-you got a phone call, man."

"Not now," Chris muttered, waving him away as he kept his eyes on the screen. "I'm trying to figure out what's been happening, I think the Zeke man might have twisted his ankle or**—**"

"_It's Sherri._"

Chris' coffee mug fell to the floor and shattered; his eyes went wide, blood draining from his face as he slowly turned around to look at Chef, who was holding one hand over the mouth of the phone, trembling with fear.

"Uh-oh…"

* * *

It was late; the Toronto TV studio was dark, save for a single light on a lower floor and another near the top. The lower light was from the security guard, making his rounds after hours; he was on the lower floors very specifically, staying as far away as possible from the being that resided near the top, still at work late, sitting alone in a dim conference room illuminated only by about a dozen or so TVs.

High on a conference chair of royal state Sherri Deville leaned back, her lips pursed as she examined the dozen or so monitors glowing from across the table. Each screen showed a camera feed directly from Wawanakwa Island, the very same shots that Chris watched from his studio---except for one. Sherri had one extra screen, which showned none other than Chris himself as he crossed the room to take the phone from Chef. Sherri watched silently, the phone set to her ear, her icy gray eyes narrowing darkly.

She heard a slight rustling on the other side of the phone, followed by a nervous cough. "_Ahem__**—**_Ms. Deville! W-what a nice surprise."

"Hello…_Chris._"

Chris trembled. She could see him trembling on the screen and could somehow almost feel it through the phone pressed to her ear. Her lips curved into a grim smile at the thought, moonlight glinting off her square glasses to give her eyes an almost demoniac look.

Back at camp Chef watched Chris carefully, wringing his hands together, for once not daring to mock the host for being the weak-hearted coward that he was, because for once Chris had a perfectly good _reason_ to be scared: this was Sherri Deville calling, and a call from Sherri could _never_ be good.

There was a long silence; or at least it _felt_ long to Chris, before Sherri spoke again, leaning forward in her chair as if the monitor she stared at was her actual prey.

"So…how _are_ things?"

Chris swallowed again. "Um…s-swell," he stammered, turning around to send Chef a terrified look. "And how are things with you**—**"

"And how are your contestants?"

"The**—**the campers? Um**—**th-they're fine too. Doing---_fine _and all that."

"Really?"

"Yes. W-well**—**" Chris had to think fast; what did Sherri know that he didn't? It would be stupid to think that she didn't know something, she was Sherri, after all, and the head of the company's legal department didn't just up and call to exchange pleasantries. Especially not Sherri, who probably didn't even _know_ the meaning of the word. "I mean**—**they're not _here._ I, uh**—**you know, just sent them into the woods for the night."

"Oh?"

"You know…j-just a little camping challenge."

"Camping challenge." Her voice was so _calm, _Chris thought, but he could _feel_ the hatred vibrating in every syllable, the rage and anger shaking within every single word. "And do think that _wise,_ sending them off by themselves? Without, I believe, even a cameraman along with them to help if need be?"

Oh crap what had happened? Chris stammered, "Well**—**I, uh, don't think that's really necessary**—**you know, just a**—**just a little camping, and there's not really anything, um**—**_dangerous _on the island."

"No?"

"You know**—**the bear and everything's trained, I mean they might _hurt_ them a little, but they wouldn't**—**actually _kill_ anyone or anything."

"Of course not." Sherri's eyes turned, if anything, even more icy. "And you've been monitoring them closely, of course?"

"Of**—**of course."

"Hmm."

There was another long pause. Sweat stains were forming through Chris' shirt. Chef began to tap his fingers together nervously, biting his lip and trembling.

"Tell me, Chris**—**what are Mr. Bouctouche and Miss Summers doing right now?"

"Uh**—**" Chris looked around wildly at Chef, who, of course, could only hear one half of the conversation anyway. "Um**—**who?"

"_The inbred hick and the blonde surfer whore!_" Sherri screamed, her carefully-controlled face suddenly breaking out into a snarl of wild-eyed hate. "What are they doing right now?!"

"I, uh**—**I don't know, sleeping?!"

"Check the monitor!"

Chris let out a small cry and ran over to the screen. "Um**—**E-Ezekiel's sleeping! And Bridgette's, uh**—**helping his…broken ankle?"

He gave a nervous smile at this last part, and Sherri's face (though unseen by either him or Chef) settled back into its former calmness, a glint of amused hatred shining in her eyes.

"Good guess," she mocked, "but _no._ That's no broken ankle, Maclean. _That_ is the injury Mr. Bouctouche endured from a _snakebite,_ suffered approximately ten hours ago, while you and Mr. Hatchet were, if I'm not mistaken…playing _Nintendo. This,_" she leaned back in her chair, glaring at the monitor across from her, "is a very serious matter."

Chris had no response to that, so Sherri continued, picking up a stack of papers in front of her on the conference room table. "The snake was purple, three to four feet long, with lavender stripes and underbelly. I showed the footage to the studio's resident ophiologist, and do you know what he said?"

"…We have a resident ophiologist?"

"He _said,_" Sherri snarled, rising to her feet and crossing the room, her high heels _click_ing on the linoleum floor,_ "_that that snake was an example of the infamous _Micrurus wawanakwa, _an incredibly rare and dangerous species found _only_ on your two islands and the surrounding latoral area. Its fangs contains one of the most potent neurotoxins found in nature which, if left untreated, could _kill_ a man within twenty-four hours."

Chris' eyes widened. "…Kill?"

"Yes, Maclain. _Kill._" She continued to pace the room. "Now, please remind me, Chris---_what_ were the rules I gave you for your little game?"

"W-Well, I**—**"

Sherri slammed her hand on the conference table; the _BANG!_ was so powerful Chris might have been able to hear it even if he _hadn't_ had been on the phone with her at the time. "The rules, Maclean! _TWO_ rules I gave you when you started this asinine little experiment, _TWO_ measly rules for you to obey. One, you don't _fuck_ the contestants…and two, you don't _kill_ them. Anything else you do, whatever torture, whatever pain, whatever long-term physical or psychological trauma you cause, they've waived away their rights to. But not. _Death._"

Chris coughed and cleared his throat, the phone trembling violently against his face. "W-Well, Ms. Deville**—**in my defense, I**—**"

"_**YOU SHUT YOUR WORD-CUNT WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!**_"

Chris' face turned white. "Yes ma'am."

Sherri growled, pacing the room. "Now you listen to me, you _ass-_ramming piece of shit-stained _CRAP!_ I do not care one iota about this little _bitch_. Frankly, once he is out of our custody, he can get gang-raped by a herd of rhinos for all I care, but no matter how much leeway our contracts give you in allowing physical harm, the fact remains that as long as those little brats are on that island the studio is acting _in loco parentis,_ meaning that we**—**by which I mean, _YOU!__**—**_are their _legal__**—**__guardians! _Which means that not _only_ are we liable for charges of reckless homicide or improper environmental management for this little snakebite stunt of yours, but child neglect, child endangerment, child abuse or any other of a _THOUSAND_ other crimes! We are talking actual _CRIMINAL CHARGES_ here, not to _MENTION_ the millions that that little asswipe's parents could get if they _SUE!_"

"Sue?!" Chris looked around wildly, his head spinning. "But**—**th-the contracts**—**"

"Are _WORTHLESS _if that little ass-sucker dies, you _FUCKTARDED WHORE-ASS!_ And even as it stands right _NOW_ with him alive, do you think any judge would deny their case, _hmm?!_ They don't need to win for us to lose, you know. The mere public relations disaster from this could be disastrous---do you think people want to watch your show just for one of your contestants to _actually die?!_"

"W-well...actually...they probably d---"

"_OF COURSE THEY DO!_ But that's beside the point, Maclean! People's _morality_" (this she said like a dirty word) "tends to kick in once they've gotten their fill of the bloodlust, and you better _believe_ we would be in trouble if this ever gets out! Boycotts, censoring, new, higher standards of safety---do you honestly think people will support _you, _when you sent a child to die alone in a forest without even taking the time to _WATCH HIM ON THE FUCKING SCREEN?!"_

"Not alone!" Chris cried weakly. "He has Bridge**—**"

"_**SHUT IT!**_"

Chris did. Quickly. Then, when Sherri was silent for several long moments, he dared to ask, "So**—**w-what do we do?"

"What do we do? _WHAT DO WE DO?!_ I'll tell you what _YOU'RE _going to do, you little shit-sucking cum-stain!" Chris could hear the loud _click_ing of her shoes come to a stop as she halted in her pace. "You are going to go and _find_ that little bastard, and bring him back there for medical attention. And I don't mean your little ni**—**er sidekick in a dress either!" Sherri screamed, as Chris visibly winced. "I mean actually _competent_ treatment, _real_ doctors, which you will be paying for out of your _own_ paycheck, of course! And happy people don't sue, so I want that boy happy, Maclean. I want that boy _amazingly _happy, _unbelievably_ comfortable, and _completely_ in the dark about his legal rights, _do you hear me?!_"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Good. I only hope that you have enough anti-venom prepared to deal with this crisis."

Chris blinked. "...Anti-venom?"

"Why _of course,_" Sherri sneered, her voice a membrane-thin façade of kindly innocence. "Because of course, I could only assume that not even _you_ would be _retarded_ enough to build your show on such a dangerous location, without at _least_ being smart enough to stock up on the very _rare_ antitoxin needed to prevent an inevitable death."

"Of-of course," Chris stammered. Oh his sweet merciful hair gel, he was screwed. Deadly snakes? Anti-venom? He hadn't heard about _any_ of this stuff, how was he supposed to have known that these islands were home to something like that?! But then again, he thought, this might explain why he managed to buy the place so damn cheap…in retrospect, he probably _should _have asked why this old camp was abandoned in the first place, but he had just naturally assumed that it had something to do with that ancient Indian burial ground on the northeast corner of the island.

Sherri gave an evil smirk. "_Good. _And you had _better _not screw this up, because I swear, Maclean, if this company loses one single _CENT_ because of your idiocy, the next time you get a job in this business, _IT'LL BE IN A SNUFF FILM!_"

And with this she _slammed _the phone down on the table, seething. After a moment she straightened, growled and pulled out a cigarette, which she lit and inhaled in one single thirty-second drag, burning it down to the filter. Then she flicked the butt onto the floor, ground it into the tiles and walked away, her heels _click-click-click_ing her out of the room.

Chris gulped again and lowered the phone to his side. Chef looked at him, still trembling.

"Get the chopper ready," Chris said in a hoarse, shaky voice.

* * *

**(Izzy and Cody)**

"Izzy," Cody whispered, edging closer to her as the wolves took another step closer, saliva dripping from their mouths. "What do we do?!"

Izzy didn't answer. Instead she did something that Cody would never have expected (well, unless he had known her a bit better, of course): she dropped onto all fours, growled at the wolves, and started to bark.

"_RUFF-RUFF! RUFF-RUFF-_ROWL, _RUFF-A_OOOOOOOOOOO!"

Cody stared, his mouth hanging open. To their credit, so did the wolves; the whitish one standing in front of Izzy even cocked its head to the side, then turned to raise its eyebrow to the grayish one beside it.

The grayish one's eyes narrowed. "_Rowr,_" it challenged. "_Rowr ruff-ruff grrr?_"

"_ROWL-RUFF!_" Izzy said brightly, springing back onto her hind legs**—**er, normal legs. "_Rowl ruff-ruff grrr _dum-dee-dum" she suddenly began to walk in place, bringing her arms up and down like she was jogging, "_rowl-ruff _br'a," she said, suddenly smiling a ridiculously big, cheesy grin.

A few of the wolves growled, while Cody just gaped. But Izzy wasn't through yet.

"_Rowl bark-bark_ that away," she said, motioning with her thumb deeper into the woods, "_ruff-ruff_" she suddenly grabbed her tangled mess of hair and brought it together, forming a rough ponytail "_bark_ eh, eh," she squatted down slightly and made more stiff walking motions.

The wolves gaped. "_Rowl...?_" one asked.

"Rowl rowl _HISSSSS_!" Izzy explained, suddenly bringing her arms to her side and wriggling around, her tongue sticking out. "_HISSSSS rowl-ruff _CHOMP CHOMP!" she flashed two huge bites at the air, causing the wolves to draw back in surprise, "_Bark-ruff_ eh-eh-OH!"

Izzy made a show of grabbing her leg, spinning her head in slow circles before she collapsed against the tree trunk, letting her tongue hang out as though she were dead. "And then _ruff-ruff_ OH!" she stood up, pulling her hair back into a ponytail as she bent down on one knee, looking back at them imploringly, "eh-eh_ ruff-ruff _CHOMP!"

The wolves began to growl under their breath; Cody might have been going crazy (aka "been hanging around Izzy too long"), but somehow he could have sworn it sounded like they were muttering to each other.

The whitish wolf barked. "_RUFF-RUFF rowl?_"

Izzy stood again, smiling. "_Ruff-ruff rowl, bark-yip HISSSS_" she wiggled again "_rowl-rowr yip!_"

The wolves were quiet for a minute. Cody's eye was twitching slightly, wondering if he was about to be eaten or wake up in a rubber room with his arms pinned to his sides.

Finally the white wolf turned to the gray one. "_Rowl?_"

The gray wolf considered. "..._Ruff,_" it said decisively, nodding its head.

The other wolves murmured for a moment.

Then, all of a sudden, the white wolf shot forward, lunging straight at Cody.

"_AGH!_" he screamed, throwing up his arms as he turned to protect his precious face, but the expected bite never came; instead the wolf turned right when it was about to reach him, ran behind him, and, just as Cody was uncovering himself and thinking he was safe, shot forward again right between his legs, causing him to fall onto its back and fly along with it as it ran into the woods.

"_AGH!_" Cody screamed (again), instinctually grabbing onto the wolf's ears to keep from falling off, even as he became aware of Izzy riding the gray wolf behind him. (In a kneeling position, to keep her legs from hanging off and dragging on the ground**—**she clearly had experience with the logistics of this sort of thing.) "_What's happening?!_"

"_Ozzy and his pack are going to help us!_"

"_WHAT?!_"

But Izzy only laughed maniacally as the wolves disappeared with the humans into the woods.

* * *

**A/N:** Well, I hope that was...interesting, if nothing else. o_0 Anyway, there's a poll up on my profile about what my next TD story might be, if you want to look into it; otherwise just please review and I'll try to get the next chapter done shortly. :-)

(P.S.: A virtual cookie to anyone who can guess why Izzy named the wolf "Ozzy." And no, it has nothing to do with the rock star.)


	7. Hair of the Dog

**Author's Notes: **Well, I promise a quick update, and what happens? Almost two months go by. *facepalm* Sorry. And you know, this story's taken so long you all probably won't even remember the stuff from Chapter One you need for this...oh well, cross-reference if necessary. And the site was glitching during the last update, so if you don't remember reading about a particularly foul-mouthed OC in a mostly Chris-centric chapter, go back a bit or you'll be confused. XD

Anyway, penultimate chapter, I hope you enjoy! :-)

* * *

**(Chris and Chef)**

_ZOOM!_

"_AGH!_" Chris fell back down onto his chair, grabbing the control panel for dear life. "Damn it, Chef! Why couldn't you just let _me_ fly this thing?!"

"You wanna get those two fast?! Then we ain't got time for your nambly-pambly flyin', Pretty Boy! We gotta go and---"

"_TREE!!!_"

"What? Oh..."

Chef Hatchet lazily steered the helicopter higher, just as the two were about to crash into the top of a particularly high maple. "Anyway, this forest is huge! Do we even know exactly where these dang campers _are_, Chris?"

"More or less," Chris said, silently wishing that he had done a better job keeping track of all of the cameras on this island. "Dang, I _knew_ we should have put tracking devices in those kids...but _noooo,_ _you_ had to waste the money on those stupid collectible ponies!"

"Nah-ah! _You _wasted them on that cappuccino machine!"

"No, I didn't! _That _money came from laying off the bear's trainer."

"Well, my ponies came from the money I scrimped out of the food budget!"

"Then what _did_ we spend the stupid tracking device money on?!"

Chris scratched his head. "...I think it was this helicopter."

"Oh. Crap."

Chef grumbled, suddenly swinging the helicopter back down to search the forest floor (as Chris grabbed his stomach, suddenly looking green). "Anyway, what are we gonna do when we find Prairie Boy and Miss Goody Two-Shoes anyway? You know we ain't got any of that fancy anti-venom stuff, and when we left the interns had just about called every hospital in Toronto! Ain't nobody seems to have a stash of this stuff, how are we gonna get that dang boy fixed up before Sherri can kill us?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it!" Chris said, his voice somewhere between "frantic" and "moaning." "Just keep looking!"

Chef growled again, but then leaned out the window, the helicopter's search light sweeping over the forest below.

* * *

**(Bridgette and Ezekiel)**

"_UGH! _Ohhh..."

Ezekiel's hand clutched at his jacket again. He groaned in pain, panting. "It hurts! It hurts it hurts it hurts---"

I moaned, biting my index finger---there had been a nail there a few moments ago---feeling like my head was going to explode. "Just---calm DOWN, Ezekiel!" I said, feeling tears begin to well up in my eyes. "Chris and Chef are going to be here soon, they have to be---"

"_UGH!_"

I didn't even think that Ezekiel could hear me anymore---in fact all he seemed capable of doing was groaning in pain, clutching at his chest or stomach feebly every time another spasm of pain seemed to attack his body. Between attacks---which, I noted with horror, seemed to becoming more and more frequent---he either gasped for air, moaned, or else just babbled incoherently.

And me? Well, I was basically going _nuts._

I clutched at my hair as Ezekiel went through another spasm a minute later. "I don't know what to do!" I moaned, feeling my temples pound. "Ezekiel, just---just hang on, okay?! Can you hear me, Ezekiel? Ezekiel?!"

Ezekiel's hand fell limply back to his side; the only answer he gave was a moan mixed in between struggling breaths. "Soo...stupid..." he muttered after a minute.

"Ezekiel?" I scooched closer to him, shaking his shoulder. "Ezekiel?! Can you hear me?!"

"Soo...stupid..."

"Stupid...what are you talking about?! Oh, are you even talking about anything anymore..."

"Stupid idea...gooing to that...stupid island...Dad was right...shoo'da listened..."

I shook him harder. "Ezekiel. Ezekiel!"

Ezekiel blinked hard; his eyes opened, staring out at me so glazed that I wasn't completely sure he could see me. "...Bridgette?"

"Yeah."

"Yoo'r still here?"

"Yeah. Of course."

"Ooh." His eyelids fluttered and closed again. "I thought---_ugh!_"

Ezekiel's entire body suddenly constricted; I jumped back as he curled into a fetal position, his face contorted with pain again.

"_Oh---_this smells, eh!" His voice was louder now, clearer, but now it was just a kind of wild delirious instead of a calmer one; I couldn't even tell if he was talking to me or not, or if he even remembered that I was still there. "I want too goo _hoome!_" he sobbed, his body visibly shaking. "I _hate _this stupid shoo'! I want to goo hoome, I want too goo hoome, I want too goo hoome! All that's happened since I got to this stupid island is that I get hurt and beat-up and bitten by snakes, eh!"

"Ezekiel!" I could feel my panic rising again. "Calm down, okay?!"

"I hate this place!" Ezekiel barely even sounded coherent now, he was sobbing half the words. "Why did I even come here at all, eh?! All I wanted to do was have fun and make some friends, but instead all I've gotten is pain and people who hate me!"

He sobbed harder than ever. "What? No---Ezekiel, th-that's not true!" I said, shaking him, trying to do _anything_ to make sure he heard me. "Nobody here hates you!"

He sniffled. "Yes they do."

"No they don't! I mean---okay, maybe Eva and a few other people are still mad at you, but---Harold doesn't hate you, does he?! And I don't either!"

He drew away from me, even as I saw his body spasm in pain again. "Liar," he said thickly. "I heard...heard you say it earlier."

"What?! What are you talking about?"

Ezekiel moaned, head rolling back...

* * *

**_(Twelve hours earlier...)_**

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

_There was no response from inside the stall. "Jeez, what's taking them so long?" Harold grumbled, rubbing the black smudge on his upper lip almost unconsciously. "I want to get in there before the next stupid challenge starts."_

_"Coo'dn't you wait 'til after?" Ezekiel suggested, leaning against the wall of the outhouse._

_Harold made a face, rubbing his lip again. "Yeah, but this stupid mustache'll probably be gone by then. It'll seem petty if I complain about it afterwards."_

_Ezekiel tried to reason out whether or not that response made any sense, then shook the idea out of his head; he had learned by now that Harold often operated on his own odd system of logic that most people (or Ezekiel, at least) didn't seem capable of fully understanding._

_Harold knocked on the door again. "Just a minute!" called a female voice from inside the stall._

_"Well, hurry up! _GAWSH!_" Harold said, throwing up his hands._

_He turned around, annoyed. Ezekiel, meanwhile, was looking at the door over Harold's shoulder, tapping his fingers together nervously._

_"That's Bridgette in there, eh?"_

_"Yeah, I think so."_

_Ezekiel turned slightly pink and wrung his hands_ _together. "Ooh."_

_Harold blinked. "What's wrong?"_

_"What's wrong? Are you kidding me? I spilled food all oover her a few minutes agoo, eh!"_

_"What? Oh, don't worry about that," Harold said, waving his hand. "I'm sure she's not still mad about it."_

_Ezekiel's face brightened. "Really?"_

_"Yeah! I mean, I've knocked disgusting things onto people hundreds of times, and nobody's ever made a big deal about it. Except my _idiot_ older brother and his fiancée...I mean, like I_ meant _to ruin that wedding dress..."_

_He absentmindedly began to knock on the door again, a persistent, annoying knock that would force Bridgette to open up, just as Ezekiel smiled to himself. Maybe Harold was right, eh? Bridgette had been willing enough to let him sit with her in the first place, a little accident probably wasn't enough to---_

_"I just hate that Ezekiel so _MUCH!_"_

_Both boys jumped as Bridgette's voice exploded out of the Confessional, loud enough for both of them to clearly hear. Harold's hand froze in mid-knocking. His head quickly spun around to face Ezekiel, who looked like someone had slapped him in the face._

_A second later the Confessional started to open; Ezekiel's eyes widened, and instantly he dove around the side of the stall without a word, out of sight. Harold was about to call out to him, but before he had a chance the door opened, and Bridgette emerged, looking sheepish._

_"Excuse me," she muttered, not meeting Harold's gaze. He moved aside mechanically, and didn't seem able to find his voice until she had walked past him and was almost back to the cabin._

_"Don't you think that was a little harsh?"_

_The words came out before he had consciously decided to speak them; Bridgette froze, half-glancing back at him. "Well, that's why I did it in private," she muttered, still not looking at him directly. Then she turned around and walked back into the Killer Bass cabin._

_Harold stared after her for a moment, then suddenly snapped back to reality, rushing to the back of the Confession Can. "Ezekiel? Zeke-man, you...okay..."_

_Ezekiel was sitting with his back against the wooden wall, knees pulled up to his chest, looking down at the ground as if close to tears._

* * *

I covered my mouth with my hand. "Oh my...y-you heard that?"

He nodded jerkily, then let out a hiss of pain that turned into a dry sob.

I shook my head. "But---no! No, Ezekiel---I didn't mean that, I was---I was just mad, that's all! Ezekiel! Ezekiel!"

He only moaned, turning his head as if his mind had slipped away again. I let out a quiet sob and suddenly realized I had tears running down my face; I wiped them off on my sleeve, but they wouldn't stop coming. I covered my face and sat back, shaking.

"_...Ugh..._Bridgette?"

I jumped a little, looking back at him as he blinked blearily up at me.

"...Yoo'r crying, eh."

I suddenly wanted to laugh; instead it came out as another wet sob.

Ezekiel gave a weak smile. "You look really pretty when you cry."

I stared down at him for a moment, uncomprehending. And then, quite suddenly, he sat up and kissed me.

It lasted about less than a second---I didn't have any time to react, it almost could have been an accident---before he drew back, almost instantly falling back down onto his bed with his eyes closed. After a moment he was breathing slowly and evenly, quiet and calm without any sign of pain.

Meanwhile I...well, just kind of _gaped_ for a moment, eyes wide. Which I might have done for a lot longer, if I hadn't suddenly heard somebody yell as they came crashing through the bushes. I jumped, spinning around as someone fell into the clearing, letting out a cry of pain as his head hit the ground.

"_Agh! IDIOT rock!_"

A larger figure stomped in after him. "Oh, quit your whining, you little---wait, who's there? That you, Blondie?"

For a moment I was too stunned to say anything. "Eva?! Harold?! Is that you?!"

Harold got up, brushing dirt from his shirt; I couldn't fully make him out in the darkness, but the tall lanky frame and glare of moonlight on glasses was enough to confirm my suspicion. "Yeah. We already got our plaque-thing, so Eva thought it might be a good idea to start---" He cut off mid-sentence when he suddenly caught sight of Ezekiel's leg. "What the---Zeke?! Oh man, Bridge!" he called, coming over to kneel beside me. "What happened to his leg?!"

Eva crossed her arms and scoffed. "Great. Figures Homeschool would be the one to screw everything up."

I blinked at her---and then suddenly felt my face set into a snarl. Without even thinking I leapt up, stomped over to her, and, as she raised an eyebrow in confusion, swung back my hand and slapped her across the face.

I have to admit, even in retrospect, I _kind_ of wish I could say that my attack did a little damage---that she cried out in pain, or got bruised, or even just had her face snap to the other side for a second. Actually all that happened was that her face drew _back_ in surprise, eyes widening, as my hand started to throb. At the moment, though, I didn't care all that much.

"Shut up!" I screamed, practically launching myself onto her as Harold jumped to his feet, grabbing my arm to hold me back. "This whole thing is all your fault! Do you have any idea what you've done?!"

"Wha---what are you _talking_ about, Goldilocks?!"

"Bridgette, calm---_ugh,_ down!" With what seemed to be titanic effort Harold pulled my arm, forcing me a few step backs from an incredulous Eva. Looking back I probably should have been thankful---there's no doubt I would have wound up in a body cast if she had actually decided she wanted to fight me. But at the moment I was half-ready to launch myself on her and futilely try to rip of limb from limb.

"Do you even have any idea what's going on here?! How serious this is?!"

"How the heck are we supposed to know that? We just _got_ here!"

I took another step towards her---Harold quickly darted around between us, holding up his hands. "Whoa---just _calm down,_ Bridge! What exactly is going on?"

"What's _going on_ is that Ezekiel got bitten by a _snake _twelve hours ago!"

"_What?!_"

"Oh man!" Harold said, slapping his head. "That's not good, Bridge! This part of Ontario is famous for having, like, some of the most venomous snakes on the _continent!_"

"You're telling me! I've been here trying to treat him half the day." I suddenly spun around and pointed accusingly at Eva. "But this wouldn't even be a problem if it wasn't for _her!_"

"What?!" A slight beam of moonlight fell into the clearing as Eva spoke, augmenting how pale she suddenly looked. "How is this _my_ fault?!"

"Because Ezekiel lied to me for _hours_ after he got bit! He didn't want to go back to camp because _you_ told him he'd get kicked off if we lost this stupid challenge!"

"Well I didn't go and tell him to do anything stupid!" There was a slight growl in Eva's voice, but it was almost totally covered by sudden panic; she wrung her hands, eyes darting around the clearing. "And what are you two doing here anyway?! Shouldn't you have---gone back to camp, or gotten medical attention or something?!"

"Ezekiel couldn't walk! His leg's twice it's normal size, and walking _miles_ back to camp would just make the poison spread faster! That's why he's in so much trouble in the first place, because _you---_"

"_Bridgette!_" I had taken another angry step toward Eva, and Harold grabbed my arm again, but this time he pulled harder, forcing me around to face him. "This isn't Eva's fault, alright?! Right now what we have to worry about is getting Zeke back to camp, _fast!_"

"But there's no way to do that!" I screamed, pulling my arm away from him. "Don't you two get that?! He can't walk, he's spent the last few hours too delirious to even think straight, I can't carry him, Izzy and Cody from the other team said they were going for help but we don't know _what_ happened to them, Chris and Chef seem to have decided to just leave us to _die_ out here, and---"

My voice cracked; for a second I couldn't speak, and the next thing I knew I had collapsed against a startled Harold's chest, sobbing into his shoulder.

Harold's arms and legs stiffened in surprise (and I could have sworn I heard Eva growl), then after a moment patted me awkwardly on the back. "Okay---_gawsh._Calm down, Bridgette. Okay? Everything's gonna be fine."

"Oh G-d, this is all my fault," I whispered.

"What?" He pushed me slightly away from him, just enough so that he could bend down and look me in the face. "That's dumb, Bridgette. From the sound of it you did everything you could to help---"

"No, you don't understand. You didn't---_sniff_---you didn't hear some of what he was saying, how upset he was..."

Harold bit his lip, his eyes shifting away uneasily. I suddenly realized that no, Harold would have known _exactly _how upset Ezekiel was---he was the only one who knew Ezekiel at all, if anyone could have guessed how hurt Ezekiel was by everything that had happened it would have been him. I looked down at the ground, not wanting to meet his gaze.

Eva suddenly cleared her throat, making both of us jump. "Um, not to upset your little 'moment' here, but are we doing something about Homeschool here or not?!"

"Well, what can we do?!" I asked, throwing up my hands and stepping away from Harold. "We're stuck. He's way to sick to walk now, and unless Chris or Chef finally come we can't just carry him---"

Before I could even finish Eva had bent down, calmly picked Ezekiel up and swung him (at least semi-gently) over one shoulder. He moaned slightly and let out a soft cry of pain when Eva moved his leg, but then quieted down and lay against Eva like a giant sleeping baby, his legs dangling down about level with her waist.

Harold and I both blinked. Eva rolled her eyes. "Please. He's what, one-twenty pounds max? I lift more in my sleep."

Harold grinned. "I like strong women."

I put my palm to my face. "Harold? Not the time."

"What? Oh, sorry," he muttered, shifting uneasily.

But out of the corner of my eye, I could have sworn I saw Eva blush.

* * *

**(Chris and Chef)**

"Sherri is going to kill me," Chris moaned, banging his head against the control panel. "She's really, _really_ going to kill me."

"No she ain't," Chef muttered, swerving the helicopter once more over the treetops.

Chris scoffed, turning to glare up at him. "You don't think so?! This is _Sherri_ we're talking about, man! Did you---did you ever _hear_ the rumors about what she did to her ex-husband?!"

Chef shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "That stuff can't be true," he muttered.

"You don't think?!"

"...She'd be in jail. Or you know, one of those special American prisons for the really insane terrorists."

"_Pffft. _Yeah, right. She could have got Eichmann off if she'd been around for the Nuremburg trials." Chef lifted his head up to look over the side again. "Any sign of them?!"

"I don't---wait."

Chris jumped up in his seat, rushing to see; he crawled onto Chef's lap, making the larger man jump. "Wait? Wait?! Wait what, what do you see?"

"I think---hold on, we're goin' down!"

* * *

**(Bridgette, Ezekiel, Harold and Eva)**

"Eva---slow down, please!"

"You idiot, if we slow down Homeschool here dies! Just stay behind if you can't keep up!"

"No---way! _AGH!_ Heart palpitations!"

I ran beside Harold as he clutched at his chest, doing a slightly-better job keeping up with Eva as she barrelled through the woods---even with Ezekiel in her grasp she moved easily, simply pushing past every tree branch or vine in her way and creating a wide path through the underbrush for the two of us to follow.

"How far do you think we are from camp?!"

"I don't know," I huffed back, shaking my head. "It took me and Ezekiel hours to get this far in the first place."

Harold moaned. "But we don't have hours! If we don't get Ezekiel help soon, he's going to---hey, what's that sound?"

"Huh?" I cocked my head and suddenly heard it too, and before I could even guess what it might be I was suddenly blinded by a bright light, throwing my hands up in front of my throbbing eyes as a sudden wind storm whipped at my hair.

"_Ah! _It's them! Sweet pomegranate hair gel, Chef, land, _land!_"

"It's Chris and Chef!" Harold said, cautiously opening his eyes against the helicopter spotlight.

"Oh, _took_ him long enough!" Eva seethed, as the copter lowered carefully through the trees to land on the ground in front of us.

Chris jumped down and rushed over to us. "Do you have the plaintiff?! I mean, uh---Ezekiel?!"

"Right here, you incompetent boob!" Eva snapped, shaking Ezekiel's limp body on her shoulder, "What the hell took you so long?!"

"There was a, uh---problem with the cameras," Chris said, looking away and tapping his fingers together. "Just hurry up and get him on the freakin' helicopter! We'll have to leave you guys behind, though, we don't have any more room..."

"Is Ezekiel gonna be okay?!" I asked, as Eva went to lay Ezekiel carefully down inside.

"My sweet paycheck I hope so---OW!" Chris muttered, as Eva stood up and "accidentally" elbowed him hard in the stomach. "Look, I can't be sure!" he hissed, doubling over and apparently not understanding what was making us glare at him. "We have to get him to a hospital, but the anti-venom for this thing is so rare that---"

"_AAAAA-OOOOOOOOOO!_"

We all jumped. "What the---"

"_AAAAA-OOOOOOOOOO! __AAAAA-OOOOOOOOOO! __AAAAA-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!_"

"YAH! ON BOY! WHOO!"

"_AAAGGGHHH!_"

"_AGH!_"

We all jumped as a dozen shaggy creatures suddenly burst out of the trees, running towards us, barking and howling like mad. "_WOLVES!_" Chris screamed, jumping instinctively into a startled Eva's arms.

"_Izzy!_" Harold cried.

"Wha---"

Then I saw it, probably the weirdest scene I had ever witnessed before---two wolves running near the back of the pack with _human riders._ Cody was laying on one of them, screaming, his arms so tight around its neck I wondered if the poor creature could breathe; and on the other one, Izzy, her mad eyes flashing in the moonlight, victoriously brandishing something held tightly in one hand.

My mouth fell open. "Is that a---"

"_Snake?!_" Chris finished, still in Eva's arms and oblivious to her growling glares.

"_WHOO-YA! STOP OZZY, WE'RE HERE!_"

Just as we retreated towards the helicopter the wolves came to a stop, forming a vague circle around us as Izzy and Cody's mounts ran into the clearing. Before her wolf even stopped Izzy jumped gracefully off, doing a flip in the air and landing on her feet like a gymnast, holding out the snake triumphantly (which only made the rest of us back up even more). Cody's wolf merely came to a stop, bending down its head---the force was so sudden that Cody let out a cry and fell forward, crashing to the ground at its feet.

My mouth fell open as I took in this scene. "What the---_what the hell is going on,_ guys?!"

"We had to go on a rescue mission!" Izzy declared, pointing dramatically at the sky with her empty hand. "And we found---_THIS!_" she declared, thrusting out the snake and making us all back up again; it writhed futilely, but Izzy was holding its head tightly between her fingers; it couldn't open its mouth, and even its hiss was muted.

"The snake? The _snake?!_ Izzy, you were supposed to be getting Chris and Chef! Why on Earth would you go after _the snake?!_"

"But don't you get it?!" Harold turned to the rest of us, holding out his hands. "If we have the snake we have its venom, the doctors could use it to make Zeke a cure!"

"What?!"

"Huh?!"

"Oh, _yes! _Sherri won't be castrating me after all!" Chris cried, just before Eva rolled her eyes and dropped him, hard, onto the ground. "_OUCH!_"

Chef poked his head out from the side window. "Well, don't just stand around there, fools! Get that motherf-ckin' snake on my motherf-ckin' plane and let's get outta here!"

"Okay!" Izzy said, waving cheerfully at him with her free hand as the snake still thrashed in the other. Then she turned back to the wolf she had been riding, pounding her arm across her chest and nodding solemnly. "Thank you for your aid, Ozzy-san. May your reign as Alpha last for a thousand moons."

The wolf nodded its head and gave a short growl. The other wolves leaned back and howled again, their combined voices so loud that all of us but Izzy (including Cody, who still seemed stunned on the ground) covered our ears, doubling over.

When they were done Izzy waved and then hopped onto the helicopter, with Chris boarding right after her to settle in besides Chef. As they took off with Ezekiel the wolves turned and ran away, leaving me, Harold, Eva and Cody alone in the woods.

After a moment of staring after them Harold went over to Cody; I snapped out of my trance and went over to, helping him up into a sitting position. "_Gawsh, _man. What the heck happened to you guys out there?"

Cody swayed uneasily. "Honestly?" he moaned. "I don't even _know._"

* * *

**A/N:** The flashback was planned from the beginning, but as I wrote this I started to wonder if it crossed the line from drama to melodrama. :-\ And finally some explicit romance! Took me long enough, didn't it?

Well, only the epilogue left to do now---which will _not_ be from Bridgette's point of view, thank goodness, I find writing that way awkward (especially when I have to describe Ezekiel kissing "me," for example). Zeke will also hopefully be a bit more "active." It'll be pretty short, so I'll try to get it up quickly---but between my Ezzy story and the dA TDI-Fanon-Club's upcoming Crack Week, it might be a _little_ while. Until then, please review!

And "Ozzy" is from Oz the werewolf on _Buffy the Vampire Slayer._ Good guesses, though. ;-)


	8. Bite the Bullet

**Author's Notes:** Well, _finally,_ after much procrastination, I have the last chapter of "Snakebite" ready for you all. To think, I mentally started this more than _six months ago,_ which actually made it a bit difficult, since I had a few different versions I had to pick and choose from. XD Anyway, please enjoy!

**Edit 1 November 2009:** Shortly after posting this chapter I got bumped down about ten spots on the page; as a result I've gotten _way _fewer reviews and hits than normal. This wouldn't bother me much, but since this is the last chapter I'm worried that people who missed the update won't get any resolution; so, more for my readers than my own ego (honest!), I'm just re-posting this for those who didn't see it at first. If you already read this chapter, no, there's nothing new, sorry to both you. :-\

* * *

**(Ezekiel)**

Ezekiel groaned, turned slightly in his sleep, and then slowly opened his eyes, blinking for a moment until the blurry world came into view.

The first thing he saw was a large purple snake, curled up on his nightstand and flickering its tongue mere inches from his face.

"_AGH!_"

Ezekiel jumped up, instantly awake now, flying to the other side of the bed so fast that he nearly fell onto the floor, pulling his blanket up to his chin in some form of meager defense. And then, before he even had time to wonder what the heck was going on, something suddenly leapt at him and threw him back down violently, squeezing him tightly.

"Oh, yay! Zekey's awake! How ya doin' Z-man?!"

"_Agh!_ Get it off me, get it off me, eh!"

Ezekiel's wild, half-awake mind posited that the snake had attacked and was now trying to strangle him violently, with the oddly familiar voice a fact he was not quite able to reconcile---until he realized that the snake was still coiled on his nightstand (in a glass tank, he suddenly saw), and that the voice shouting at him belonged to someone he knew.

"Wait---_Izzy?_"

"Yeah-huh, that's my name! I'm glad you remembered it, 'cause I once saw this soap opera where the guy was poisoned and when he woke up he had amnesia---but then it was a soap opera, so you know, it's not like it takes a lot to give _anyone_ amnesia or a coma or _something_---oh my gosh it's been more than a week since I've seen _General Life Turning,_ I wonder if Olivia knows about Guillaume's evil twin brother's baby yet...so anyway, how are you?"

She grinned down at him, her face so close to his that their noses almost touched. Ezekiel cleared his throat awkwardlt.

"Um...coo'd you get off me please?"

"_OKAY!_"

As she returned to her chair by his bed**—**turned around with her sitting backwards, since that was infinitely cooler**—**Ezekiel looked around, blinking at the strange room. "And…where are we, again?"

"Oh, this place? It's the super-secret five-star resort where all the losers get to stay during the contest! It's the nearest place that had a competent infirmary."

"Infirmary?" Ezekiel shook his head, looking down to realize with a start that he was wearing a hospital gown. He blinked. "What happened, eh?"

"Don't you remember?"

"The last thing I remember is being in the foorest with" he gulped "Bridgette on a challenge, and then..." His eyes suddenly snapped back around to the snake on his nightstand, and he edged a few inches away from it again. "Uh, Izzy? What exactly is that thing _dooing_ in here?"

"Oh, yeah, I need to introduce you too!" Izzy suddenly grabbed the snake out of its tank and leapt forward at her friend. "_Say hello to Snakey, Zeke!_"

"_AGH!_" Ezekiel fled backwards until his back reached the wall. "_Get that thing away, eh!_ It nearly killed me!"

"Oh, don't worry, Zeke, I've had him defanged!" Izzy said, standing up straight again and rolling her eyes. "Did it myself, too, snapped 'em right off with my bare hands! Scratched myself a bit, but luckily I've been drinking all _sorts _of poisons for years so I'm already immunized, it just knocked me out for a few minutes. So I'm keeping him as a pet now, his new name is Snakey Lucifer Koko-Marley Serpentus the Sixty-Fourth, Esquire, and he's _very_ sorry that he hurt you, aren't you, Snakey?"

The snake hissed and twisted itself around Izzy's arm so hard it was turning blue, sputtering and glaring with hatred in his eyes. Izzy merely smiled and patted him on the head (at which point he snapped at her, wishing he still had fangs).

Suddenly a new face in the doorway appeared, eyes wide. "Homeschool's awake?! _Yo, Chris! He's awake!_"

"He is?! Oh sweet merciful Mammon!"

Chef came into the room, pushing Izzy aside to get to Ezekiel's bed; she was about to retaliate, but Chris came in a moment later and pushed her again before she had a chance. "Ezekiel!" the host cried, throwing open his arms. "You're up! How do you feel, man? Happy, well, content---not litigious, I hope?"

Ezekiel blinked. "Well, um---"

"Oh, here, let me fluff your pillow for you---Chef, what are you just standing there for?! Bring this man an ice cream sundae, STAT."

"Uh, yeah, sure!"

"_Huh?_"

Izzy crossed her blue- and normal arms and stuck out her tongue as Ezekiel sat stunned, Chris quickly chattering off a host of questions he couldn't answer about how he was feeling and how much of his contract he had bothered to read. Chef reappeared a moment later and shoved a tall glass of ice cream into Ezekiel's hands, along with a spoon and a stack full of papers.

"Okay, well, you just enjoy your snack before signing those pesky liability waivers," Chris said finally, clapping his hands together and flashing his phony grin. "The doctors said you need a little more rest, so Chef, Izzy and I will be leaving now. Chef, seize her."

"Hey! Let me go! I've got a snake and I know how to use it!"

Ezekiel shook his head, finally finding his voice. "But, uh---I've got a few questions, eh---"

"Oh, heh-heh, no need, Zeke my man, there'll be _plenty_ of time for questions after you've signed all those papers," Chris said, his eye suddenly twitching the smallest tiny bit. "Right now _you_ need some rest, and _we _need to go make some calls---just sign those papers, okay?"

"Uh**—**"

Without another word the two adults left, carrying a struggling Izzy and sputtering Snakey away with them. Ezekiel stared after them, then down at his ice cream before making a face and leaving it on his bedside table besides Snakey's empty tank. He still felt sick and tired; the very thought of touching it was making him nauseous. He supposed it was somewhat rude towards Chef (and ironically the one time Chef didn't _deserve_ rudeness for his food), but right now all Ezekiel wanted to do was curl right back up in bed and get some more sleep...

Ezekiel was just starting to drift away again when he heard a knock on the still-cracked door. He blinked, raising himself half-out from under the covers. "Who is it, eh?"

The door slid open a bit wider as a familiar face slid through. "It's, um…me."

Ezekiel blanched, a slight choking sound escaping his throat. "Er---B-Bridgette?"

"Yeah." She slid the door open still wider, standing on the threshold. "I heard you were awake now. May I come in?"

"Um, uh---" Ezekiel cleared his throat, suddenly feeling his ghost-white face turn slightly pink. "S-soo'r, eh."

Bridgette gave a wan smile as she stepped into the room. Ezekiel's eyes followed her as she walked slowly to the bed, quietly turning Izzy's chair around and slipping into it; it seemed odd to Ezekiel, the way she was moving as if he were a sleeper she didn't want to rouse. She shifted uncomfortably for a moment, not speaking, and Ezekiel looked away, biting his lip awkwardly at the silence.

"So how are you feeling?" she asked quietly, sounding unusually meek.

"Huh?! Ooh, uh---g-good, I guess. I mean, pretty well, I still feel a little sick, eh." Ezekiel rubbed his knuckles against his eyes, blinking. A moment's pause. "What happened anyway?"

"You don't remember?"

Ezekiel screwed up his face, thinking hard. "Well...I remember being bit by the snake, if that's what you mean. And I remember us waiting for Chris and Chef in the woods...and I was starting to feel really sick, and then..."

"And then what?"

Ezekiel scratched his head, feeling his face heat up again. "Well, um...it starts to get a little fuzzy after that. I think I kind of started to act a little..._stoopid _there..."

Bridgette let out a sound between a scoff and a chuckle, which only made Ezekiel's face turn a brighter shade of red.

"I'm sorry," Bridgette said, covering her mouth and trying to force her smile away. "Do you remember…anything else?"

"Not…really…" Ezekiel said slowly. "Just…being really sick…and...some bad dreams..."

Bridgette winced and look down at the floor, but Ezekiel was so lost in thought he didn't seem to notice. Bridgette forced herself to smile again. "Well, we're all glad you're alright now, Ezekiel."

"'We?'"

"Oh, didn't Izzy tell you? Well, she and I are here, and Harold and Cody...Chris had to let all of us come, or Eva said she was going to...stick things in places."

Bridgette tapped her fingers together uncomfortably, while Ezekiel---who honestly didn't know what might be shoved where---merely jumped at the name. "Eva?! _She's_ here?!"

"No, no, she's back on the island," Bridgette said, waving her hand quickly as Ezekiel sighed and laid back on his bed. "She didn't want to come herself, I think she was worried about things getting..._emotional _here."

Ezekiel stared. "Emootional?" Well, he supposed rage, anger and fear were emotions...

"And you're parents are coming!" Bridgette added, with another forced smile and falsely-bright voice. "Did they tell you that? Chris is paying for them to fly out to see you, they should be here by the end of the day."

To Bridgette's surprise, Ezekiel suddenly frowned. He looked away. "Ooh. Great."

Bridgette's face fell. "What's the matter? I**—**I thought you would be glad to see them. You said that---" She suddenly faltered as Ezekiel looked at her, confused, also looking away as her cheeks turned a light and endearing shade of pink. "You, uh, mentioned---after you were a little...stupid...that you…missed them."

"I do," Ezekiel said, still with a sour look on his face. He sighed. "I mean, I guess it'll be easier this way, eh? They can just take me hoome with them now, save everybody a lot of trouble in the long walk..."

"Huh?" Bridgette's strangely-soft tone was quickly replaced by one of surprise. "What do you mean? Why would you go home?"

For now the _second_ time in his life, Ezekiel had the chance to look at someone as if _they _were insane. "Huh? But---I got vooted off, eh?"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"The---the challenge, eh! We lost. The team must've vooted me off, eh, because we didn't complete the contest, we never got our**—**plaque oor whatever. Unless..." His eyes suddenly widened. "Ooh noo, they didn't voote _you_ off, did they?!"

"No, no---Ezekiel, _nobody_ got voted off for the last challenge! On either team."

He blinked. "They didn't?"

"_No._ Actually, half of the groups didn't even _finish_ the assignment, and that's _aside_ from us, Cody and Izzy," she said, rolling her eyes. "And with everything that happened, Chris just said the whole thing didn't count. It ticked off some of the others, but don't worry, you're safe."

Ezekiel was at a loss for words for a moment. "But...even then, the others are goona wanna hit me off," Ezekiel said slowly, shaking his head. "I mean, I probably woon't even be able to _be_ in the next challenge, Chris said I was gonna be in here for the next couple of days---"

"That doesn't matter," Bridgette said, holding up her hand to silence him. "Chris told us that no one was allowed to vote you off as long as you're still recovering. He said you've got invincibility even if you miss the next ten challenges."

"Wha---he did?! _Why?_"

Bridgette gave a small smile. "I don't know. I guess he has more of a heart than he lets on." Then she paused, tapping her chin. "Plus he said something about someone named Sherri, then made the Sign of the Cross like half a dozen times..."

Ezekiel quirked an eyebrow as Bridgette thought for a moment, then shrugged and turned back to him. "Besides, even when you _do_ get back in the game, I don't think you're going to have to worry about anyone kicking you off so fast. Nobody blames you for getting hurt, Ezekiel, honest. Eva's even starting threatening anyone who tries to blame you for what happened."

"She---she did?" Chris being nice was one thing, but suddenly Ezekiel was starting to worry that Bridgette might be pulling his arm. "But---why would _she _do that, eh?!"

"Well...I think she feels kind of guilty about the way she's been treating you."

Ezekiel frowned in confusion, while Bridgette bit her lip.

"...And so do I."

Ezekiel looked startled. "Huh?" he said stupidly. He shook his head briskly. "I mean---noo! What do you mean, eh? You saved my life back there in the foorest, why would you be---"

"Ezekiel? Shut up for a minute."

Ezekiel blinked again but immediately did so.

"Look, Ezekiel…you've probably already realized by now, but the things you said on the first day weren't cool. They were totally disrespectful to all of us girls, and they made all of us really, really angry at you."

"I knoo', but**—**"

"_But,_" Bridgette interrupted, and reached out to wrap her small hand around Ezekiel's large, meaty one, causing his heart to flutter wildly in his chest, "that doesn't mean we were right to treat you as bad as we did. Especially without trying to get your side of the story, or…getting to know you a little, or something, I don't know." She suddenly laughed, though quietly, nervously. "I guess we wound up doing about the same thing we were mad at you for doing."

"…What?"

"Oversimplify. Judge. Take a quick look at the outside without trying to find the person underneath." She looked away, her grip on his hand loosening slightly. "Though I think in the end we wound up doing it a lot worse than you did," she added softly.

Ezekiel continued to stare at her, not sure quite what to say, though without thinking his hand went tighter around hers when her own grip began to slack. Bridgette looked up; the two merely stared at each other for a few seconds, before a muscular blonde woman in a nurse uniform came into the room, startling them with three brisk snaps of her fingers.

"I am sorry, but you haf to go now," she said to Bridgette, through a thick yet somehow indeterminable accent. "My patient needs rest."

"Oh…alright. Can I just have another moment?"

"_Ja,_ just hurry," the nurse said, before turning on her heel and sweeping out of the room.

Bridgette stood up awkwardly, breaking their connected hands; Ezekiel quickly drew his back, looking away as if caught doing something wrong. "Well…I'm glad to see that you're alright, Ezekiel. I hope you get well enough to come back to the game soon."

"Th-thanks. …Me too, eh."

Bridgette smiled. And then, to Ezekiel's shock, she bent down and gave him a small kiss on the cheek.

Ezekiel's face was burning bright red by the time Bridgette's lips left it, but she simply smiled at him before gliding back out of the room, leaving him alone once more. Ezekiel stared after her for a moment before his hand reached unconsciously upwards, rubbing the spot as his head began to spin.

"Whoo, eh," he whispered, laying back down with a dazed little smile sliding across his face.

* * *

**A/N:** Next time, I write the whole thing from Ezekiel's point of view. Anyway, fluffy ending with actual romance! A bit of a change from how the rest of this story has gone. I hope you all liked it, and thanks to Winter-Rae for letting me Olga Von Tussle there for a minute, because I just kind of wanted to. XD I won't be writing any "long" TD stories for a while, I think---my other fandoms and stories have been too long neglected---but I might work up some one-shots or update "Total Drama Interactions" soon. My next "big" story here will probably be (for those of you who remember my poll a while back) "The Devil's Due," a weird supernatural story with Ezekiel/Heather romance, among other things; it's in the planning stages, but probably won't be out for a while. It's hard fleshing out each character's personality as much as that story requires.

Anyway, thanks to all who have read this, and if I may, please leave one last review! ;-)


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